10,580 CHF
(Joseph) Antram (Watchmaker to the King), London, No. 2538, circa 1715. Very fine and rare silver pair-cased wandering hour watch with Geneva school miniature enamel portrait. Outer: two-body, polished, box hinge. Inner: two-body, "bassine" with deep back, polished, shuttered winding aperture. Silver, radial Roman champlevé "wandering" numerals in a circular window of a gilt engraved segment set at the top, surmounted by silver Arabic minute chapter segment. The window, with the correct hour inside, points to the correct minutes, below Roman numeral quarter-hour segment. The bottom, with an applied miniature enamel portrait of a lady, within gilt brass plate engraved with exotic birds and foliage. 38 mm. hinged, gilt full plate with Egyptian pillars with silver capital, fusee and chain, verge escapement, plain steel balance with flat balance spring, single-footed cock.Signed on the movement.Diam. 56 mm. Notes Joseph Antram One of the best watchmakers of his time. He was apprenticed on January 17, 1697 to one of the greatest British watchmakers at the turn of the century, Charles Gretton. He became Free of the Clockmakers Company on October 7, 1706.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2004-04-24
