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Anonymous, Swiss
Silver and enamel cased verge watch
Movement: numbered '409' on the inside of the front plate
Movement: the silver index disc engraved 'I 1234567 A', c. 1700 and later
case; gold, enamel
case 48.2 mm diameter case 23.7 mm thickness movement 36.7 mm diameter pillar 4.2 mm height
Case: Polychrome pictorial enamel case with silver rims and silver pendant. The main enamel panel on the back shows Venus chastising Cupid. On the inside the panel is decorated with and Italianate landscape. The band consists of a ring of enamelled metal with a continuous landscape with buildings. Dial: White enamel dial with hours I-XII and single dot half-hour marks around a quarters circle. A winding hole at I-II o'clock. The gold hands are not original and most of the hour hand is missing. Movement: Gilt-brass plates with four turned tapering pillars. Barrel with ratchet and click set-up under the dial. Fusee with chain and standard stop-work, the stop-block cylindrical. Four wheel train, the centre wheel recessed into the front plate. Verge escapement with an adjustable potence and a counter potence let into the edge of the back plate. Brass three-arm balance, spiral balance spring and geared regulator, the silver index disc engraved 'I 1234567 A'. The balance bridge is pierced with C-scrolls and has a polished steel coqueret. The movement is unsigned but is numbered 409 on the inside of the front plate. Notes: The combination of a pictorial enamel case back and band with silver rims and pendant is unlikely. The general appearance of this watch suggests that the enamel panel on the back and the enamel ring of the band are of late 17th century date but have been expertly cut out and remounted in silver at a later date. Certainly, the movement is characteristic of Swiss work in about 1800. The dial, however, appears to be contemporary with the enamel parts.
Julius Rosenberg
Sotheby, 1943
Bequeathed by J. Francis Mallett, 1947.
WA1947.191.103
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