19,550 CHF
Fromanteel & Clarke, London, circa 1695. Fine and very rare silver pair-cased Sun-and-Moon watch with calendar and subsidiary seconds. Outer. Two-body, entirely chased and engraved with a complex foliage pattern inhabited with mythological birds and masks, landscape vignettes (slightly rubbed). Square hinge. Inner. Two-body, plain, polished, loosering pendant. Notes The Fromanteel of Fromanteel & Clarke is probably Abraham (apprenticed 1662, Clockmaker's Company 1680-1711), as a similar watch, also with sun-andmoon and seconds is in the Mallett Collection, Oxford, and is illustrated and described by G. H. BaillIe in his standard work-Watches, p. 326, pl. XLV. According to Baillie it was the earliest watch known with a subsidiary seconds hand in what is now considered as the conventional position i. e. 6 o'clock. The watch now offered for sale is mechanically similar in every respect, as both have a calendar as well seconds, but in view of the partnership name may date from a few years Iater
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
1992-10-17
