John Stileman

John Stileman, Londini, circa 1650. Extremely fine and rare 20 ct. gold, enamel and rock-crystal watch. Octagonal, the two piece frame with champleve enamelled decoration. Facetted rock-crystal cover and back. Enamelled loose-ring pendant and button finial. GiIt brass with Roman numerals and engraved with leaf decoration. Blued steel single hand. Hinged gilt brass full plate with turned baluster pillars, three wheel train, fusee with gut-line, verge escapement with balance wheel foliot, irregular oval florally pierced and engraved gilt brass cock. Ratchet wheel and click setup. Signed on the back plate. In very good condition. Dim. 39 x 22 mm. Notes There are relatively few English watches surviving that we can date to the first half of the XVllth century, and of these only a handful are in gold and enamel. Examining the inventories of property belonging to the Queen Elizabeth I, shows that she was in possession of a fair number of both small clocks and watches mounted in gold with enamel and even precious stones. England was not a major center for either horology or enamelling at the time, but the fact that so very few have survived may well be explained by the political circumstances. England was ravaged by civil war during the reign of Charles I, and it is well known that he "cashed in" many of the Crown's possessions particularly jewels and plate to pay the campaigns. Following the defeat of the Royalists and the King execution, the puritan period under Cromwell Read more…