A rare early 17th century oval gilt metal single hand watch
S.Fromon
gilt brass full plate movement signed S Froman with floral engraving, engraved Egyptian pillars, fusee and gut line, six-leaf pinion, three-arm balance, pierced and foliage engraved cock, wheel and click set-up, oval dial with central round 24 hour chapter ring with I to XII radial Roman chapters with touch pins for night reading and single steel hour hand, hinge domed case the inside finely engraved with swags of flowers, plain back with round shutter over winding hole
39mm x 52mm.
gilt brass full plate movement signed S Froman with floral engraving, engraved Egyptian pillars, fusee and gut line, six-leaf pinion, three-arm balance, pierced and foliage engraved cock, wheel and click set-up, oval dial with central round 24 hour chapter ring with I to XII radial Roman chapters with touch pins for night reading and single steel hour hand, hinge domed case the inside finely engraved with swags of flowers, plain back with round shutter over winding hole
39mm x 52mm.
Sold for
£4,200
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Little is recorded about the maker Fromin, but as there was no standard spelling at that time, it could possibly be by the maker Fremin who had trained in Geneva as a locksmith but became a watch maker in Paris after his arrival there as a refugee around 1594.
It did not take long for watch making in the early 17th century to spread throughout England and Europe. The main cities of London, Paris, and Geneva flourished as centres of fine watch making. Early watches were very poor timekeepers and much less reliable than clocks of the same period, they remained so until the introduction of the balance spring in 1675, only after this innovation did the minute hand regularly appear on watches.
Category: Clocks and Watches / Clocks
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