John Fitter, London

• Movement: gilded full plate, verge escapement, four wheel train, decoratively pierced and floral engraved silver screwedon balance cock and foot, worm and wheel set-up, fusee and gut line, silver seconds dial to the backplate with outer ring marked for seconds and inner ring with five-second Arabic numerals engraved and filled in black, engraved with a flower to the centre heightened with red wax, ribbed blued steel hand • movement signed John Fitter Battersea
• Dial: silver with inner disc engraved with Father Time pointing to the hours against a stippled background, outer chapter ring with black Roman numerals, red wax half hour divisions between and quarter hour divisions filled with red wax beneath, outer minute ring indicated via central blued steel decoratively ribbed minute hand, matching ribbed seconds hand to backplate
• Case: silver inner case, the back with engraved tabulated Julian calendar, lacking outer case

Roskell Collection (according to Britten – see literature below)
Bloch-Pimentel Collection, Hotel Drouot, 5 May 1961, lot 80
Camerer Cuss, London

Antiquarian Horological Society, 10^th Anniversary Exhibition, 1964
Le Temps Vite, Paris, 2000

Terence Camerer Cuss, The English Watch 1585-1970, 2009, pp. 88-89, pl. 41

T.P. & T. A. Camerer Cuss, The Camerer Cuss book of Antique Watches, 1987, p. 75, pl. 26

F.J. Britten, Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers, 1977, ACC Edition pp. 179-180, figs. 343 – 344

G. H. Baillie, Watches, Their History, Decoration and Mechanism, 1929, pp. 212 & 326

Movement running at time of cataloguing. Dial in good overall condition with some minor losses to the red and black wax infill. Winding shutter to case back is lacking. Outer case is lacking.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. All dimensions in catalogue descriptions are approximate. Condition reports may not specify mechanical replacements or imperfections to the movement, case, dial, pendulum, separate base(s) or dome. Watches in water-resistant cases have been opened to examine movements but no warranties are made that the watches are currently water-resistant. Please note that we do not guarantee the authenticity of any individual component parts, such as wheels, hands, crowns, crystals, screws, bracelets and leather bands, since subsequent repairs and restoration work may have resulted in the replacement of original parts. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue. In particular, please note it is the purchaser's responsibility to comply with any applicable import and export matters, particularly in relation to lots incorporating materials from endangered species.NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

**Please be advised that bands made of materials derived from endangered or otherwise protected species (i.e. alligator and crocodile) are not sold with the watches and are for display purposes only. We reserve the right to remove these bands prior to shipping."

This important and famous watch has featured in numerous publications and exhibitions. It is a technically advanced watch for its date, displaying hours, minutes and seconds, as well as incorporating a four wheel train which allows it to run for more than 24-hours. Due to the inaccuracies of early watches, relatively few were made with minute hands prior to the introduction of the balance spring. The layout of the present dial is especially unusual with the figure of Father Time pointing to the hours, whilst the single hand indicates the minutes to the outer edge. Indeed, so unusual is the configuration for its period, that the original owner would have had to remember not to see the minute hand as an hour hand.  Given the extraordinary rarity of minute indication at this time, it is all the more remarkable to find seconds indication
concealed to the backplate. Made before the introduction of the balance spring, the seconds dial would have been useful for measuring only very short durations. Viewing the backplate, it is interesting to see Fitter’s signature specially laid out to either side of the seconds dial, whilst the seconds dial itself is heightened with an engraved flower to the centre, highlighted with red wax. The calibrations to the seconds dial run counter
clockwise and the hand is mounted on an extended arbor of the contrate wheel.

Interestingly, a watch signed Isaac Pluvier, Londini, which also incorporates a seconds dial to the backplate and features a dial and movement of similar configuration to the present watch, was sold at Christie’s Geneva in May 1995 (lot 151). Isaac Pluvier was admitted to the Clockmakers’ Company in December 1637 as a journeyman to David Bouquet.

John Fitter was most likely trained by his father Nicholas. Although John was known to the Clockmakers’ Company and took apprentices through them, he did not become a Free Brother until 1685. Brian Loomes notes in his book The Early Clockmakers of Great Britain, that John was dead by 1698.