P. Lagisse (Geneva

P. Lagisse (Geneva, Switzerland), circa 1675. Very rare and fine gilt-metal and rock-crystal watch with early balance spring, "Tompion" regulator and fixed barrel. Lobed form with two-part frame, the borders engraved with a hatched pattern, the interior surround with filigree foliage.Facetted rock-crystal cover and back, with loose-ring pendant and button finial. Silver champleve of matching shape, with Roman numerals, half and quarter hour divisions on a matted ground, with simple punched decorations, the centre with a rosette. Single balluster-turned blued-steel hand. Shaped gilt-brass plates, turned balluster pillars, pierced and florally engraved fixed barrel with going arbor, the wheel-andpinion stop-work mounted on the backplate, short train, verge escapement with plain three-arm steel balance, flat spring and regulator with blued-steel retaining sector for the rack and silver indicator disk retained by a blued-steel cock. Foliage pierced and engraved silver cock with small irregular foot. Signed on the movement. In very good condition. Dim. 51x32 mm. Notes At least 10 makers with the surname Lagisse (5 with the first initial P) are recorded as working in Geneva during the late 17th/early 18th.centuries; several are known to have been related to one another. In the case of the watch now offered for sale, it seems most likely to be the work of Pierre Didier Lagisse whose death is noted by Baillie as 1679. He worked in Geneva before settling in Isphahan where he b Read more…