- 26
Jonathan Puller, London
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 GBP
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Description
- A SUPERB GOLD PAIR CASED VERGE WATCH WITH FILIGREE WORK OUTER CASECIRCA 1682-1685
- gold
- diameter 48 mm
• gilt full plate verge movement, three-arm steel balance, the decoratively engraved balance cock with open piercing, small silver regulator plate with decorative pierced gilt indicator, unusual tulip-form pillars, fusee and chain • gold champlevé dial, the centre with raised radial foliate decoration, Roman numerals, diamond-shaped half-hour division, outer Arabic minute track, blued steel beetle and poker hands, plain gold inner case, the outer case with detailed filigree decoration interspersed with flower heads and leaves, plain pendant, inner case indistinctly signed possibly JH for John Harbert • movement signed Jonathan Puller London, the dial underside stamped WB possibly for William Bertram
Provenance
The Sternberger Collection, Sold at Sotheby's London
The Courtney Ilbert Collection
Michael Inchbald, Nephew of Courtney Ilbert
Sotheby's London, 28th October 1963, lot 70
Exhibited
London, Science Museum, British Clockmaker's Heritage Exhibition, 1952, exhibit no. 277
London, Victoria and Albert Museum, Third International Art Treasures Exhibition, 1962, exhibit no. 402
Literature
Terrence Camerer Cuss, The English Watch 1585-1970, pp 114-115, pl. 52
Catalogue Note
The present lot comprises of several notably rare features; its filigree case, seldom found on English watch cases, the dial maker's stamp on the dial's underside, the lack of quarter division, and the early use of a balance spring. Jonathan Puller (1662-1707) began his career apprenticed to Nicholas Coxeter in August 1676, before moving onto John Miller. Puller became free of the Clockmakers' Company in 1683 and went on to have eight apprentices of his own. He was assistant to the Clockmakers’ Company in 1701.
Courtenay Adrian Ilbert (1888-1956) amassed one of the most comprehensive horological collections of the 20th Century. He started collecting watches and clocks while still young, and his most prolific period of collecting occurred in the 1920s and 1930s, Ilbert’s collection included watches that demonstrated the mechanical progress in the history of horology. He became a Liveryman at the Clockmakers’ Company and a Fellow of the British Horological Institute. His interest in horology led to the start of the Antiquarian Horological Society, which was founded in his dining room on the 1st of October, 1953. In 1958, his collection, of nearly 2,300 watches, chronometers and clocks, was purchased for the Nation, and now resides in the British Museum.
Courtenay Adrian Ilbert (1888-1956) amassed one of the most comprehensive horological collections of the 20th Century. He started collecting watches and clocks while still young, and his most prolific period of collecting occurred in the 1920s and 1930s, Ilbert’s collection included watches that demonstrated the mechanical progress in the history of horology. He became a Liveryman at the Clockmakers’ Company and a Fellow of the British Horological Institute. His interest in horology led to the start of the Antiquarian Horological Society, which was founded in his dining room on the 1st of October, 1953. In 1958, his collection, of nearly 2,300 watches, chronometers and clocks, was purchased for the Nation, and now resides in the British Museum.