Gold & agate pair-cased watch
Gallery 52, Silver and Watches, First Floor

Ornamental watches like this were usually made by two or more craftsmen working in collaboration. While the mechanism was made by a watchmaker, the cases were supplied and fashioned by metalworkers.

This watch is signed by the mid eighteenth-century watchmaker, Francis Perigal, who is known to have worked in London between 1741 and 1756. The case is stamped with the initials of Stephen Goujon whose mark was registered at Goldsmith’s Hall in 1720. The Perigals and Goujons, as their names suggest, originated in France. Like many French Protestant craftsmen, they emigrated to England after the “Edict of Nantes”, which had previously guaranteed their right to worship freely, was revoked in 1685. They brought with them French skills and French fashions which strongly influenced the course of mid-eighteenth century British decorative art.

This French influence, brought to England by the Huguenots - as the French Protestants were known - can be seen in several of the elaborate watchcases of the period displayed in Gallery 52 (Silver & Watches) and also in many of the pieces of contemporary English silver shown in the adjoining cases.