Some of you may remember my posting about a pocket watch I found last year. The local museum had a look at it some months ago but has just released a lengthy assessment of it. This watch remains my favorite find out of literally hundreds of items.
An incomplete late post-Medieval or Modern yellow metal plated copper alloy pocket watch, probably dating to c AD 1750 – 1800. The watch, circular in form, is enclosed in an outer case and it is probably a demi-hunter (or half-hunter), where the outer lid (an open ring) of the case has a glass panel (there is no glass present in this item but a flange on the inner side of the lid suggests there might have been) or hole in the centre giving a view of the hands. The hours would be marked on the outer lid or its glass, thus with this type of case one can tell the time without opening the lid. The name derived in England where fox hunters could read the time without letting go of the reins of the horse (hunter). The lid hinge is at 9 o’clock, the stem, crown and bow or loop (bow, for attachment to a chain, now missing) at 12 o’clock. The stem does not seem to incorporate a winder, in that there is a small hole for a winding key in the back of the watch itself. This is an indication of an English watch.
On the back of the case, where almost all of the plating is missing, is an heraldic shield with Swiss shape, diagonal band (bande – from lower right to upper left) with vertical inscribed hatchings in the opposing corners of the shield. There appears to be some design across the centre of the shield, subject uncertain. Inside the centre back of the case, there may be a number ‘5’ inscribed or stamped and other figures, also, but there are dark stains and other matter inside the case which obscure much of the inner surface. There is a strip of what may be a textile running from the catch of the case towards the centre of the inner surface. It now adheres to the metal. This may be what the remains of what is known as a watch paper – originally printed with details of the watch maker.
The watch itself has a lid hinge at 12 o’clock. Any glass which would have been in this inner lid is now missing. The watch face is a white/cream colour, perhaps enamel or porcelain. There are no numbers or other marks on the face and may never have been if this was, in fact a half-hunter (see above).There is some crazing and a small chip on the surface of the face. A single hand remains, probably the hour hand, and there may have only been one, with circular attachment loop fixing the hand to the face, small collar close to the attachment end, spine and arrow head pointer. The reverse of the watch shows wear, with the yellow metal coating peeling off. The inner lid, followed by the face and mechanism, hinge outwards from the back of the watch. The mechanism is displayed and is a verge fusee movement, with what appear to be standardised parts which match illustrations of similar watches.
The movement is held between two plates, probably brass, and the components of the movement can still be seen, though they are encrusted with material, including iron corrosion, mainly on the upper plate. On the plate is inscribed – James (or possibly Jas or John) Wild LONDON – and a number – 3952. A James Wild is listed as a watchmaker in Frith Street, Soho, London in 1790.
The watch is not in working condition. Corrosion is evident amongst elements of the movement.
Dimensions: 47.55mm diameter; 62.45mm in height (including the stem); 17.45mm thick; 79.85g in weight.The inner case, the watch itself, is 41.17mm in diameter; 15.56mm thick and 59.69g in weight.
cf Wikipedia Fusee (horology) accessed 2019: “Used in antique spring-powered mechanical watches and clocks, a fusee is a cone-shaped pulleywith a helical groove around it, wound with a cord or chain which is attached to the mainspring barrel. Fusees were used from the 15th century to the early 20th century to improve timekeeping by equalizing the uneven pull of the mainspring as it ran down.”.
Class: Pocket
Sub class: Verge fusee
Date from: Circa AD 1750
Date to: Circa AD 1800