alarm watch;
watch-case
- Museum number
- 1874,0718.81
- Description
-
Silver Cased Verge Watch with Alarm [Gilt-brass and shagreen outer case not original].
Gilt-brass plates orinally with five spiral twist baluster pillars (one now broken away and only a foot remaining).
Mainspring barrel with ratchet set-up on the back plate.
Fusee with chain and standard stop-work.
Four wheel going train of gilt-brass wheels, the second wheel and tird pinion recessed into the front plate and running in a separate bridge.
Verge escapement; spiral balance spring and geared regulator, the very small index disc .
Alarm train powered by a fixed barrel, pierced and engraved on the visible side and with geared stop-work mounted on the back plate. Gilt-brass great wheel with steel contrate and crown wheel.
Silver chapter-ring with hours I-XII and lozenge half-hour marks around a quarters-circle. Central gilt-brass alarm-setting disc numbered 1-11 and with a steel pointer at 12. There is a central rosette in the centre. The alarm-setting hand is missing.
Pierced and engraved inner case with a band of foliate scrolls, birds and dog? heads. Also there are grotesque figures, two blowing horns and one with a drum. At the bottom a figure is seated on a barrel and holds a chalice in one hand and a jug in the other. The backed is centred with an engraved rosette, A bell inside the back.
The gilt-brass and shagreen outer case is not original.
- Production date
- 1680-1690
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 44 millimetres (dial)
-
Diameter: 56.40 millimetres (outer case)
-
Thickness: 27.60 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Although unsigned, this watch was probably made in Switzerland, The case construction in which the upper rim carring the dial and movement is a separate piece pinned to the body of the case is very much a continental feature.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Latest: 3 (2015)
- Acquisition date
- 1874
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1874,0718.81
