Lot 88

Jo(hn) Charlton Fecit, London, 27 x 21 x 15 mm, 16 g, circa 1635
An important, extremely small, one-handed pre-balance miniature watch in an octagonal rock crystal case
Case: silver/gilt/rock crystal. Dial: gilt, engraved, ornamented with flower-heads and a figural motif in the centre. Movm.: full plate movement, gut/fusee, verge escapement, plain two-arm iron balance without balance spring.
This watch is a sister to a small and nearly identical pendant watch in a rock crystal case by John Charlton. It was part of the "Patek Philippe Watch Art Grand Exhibition London 2015" and resides in the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.
John Charlton was a member of the Blacksmiths Company and paid money toward a petition to James I for the incorporation of a Clockmakers Company in October 1630. He was one of the petitioners for the incorporation of a Company for the London clockmakers and became one of its first Assistants in 1632. He went on to be Warden in 1635-1636, finally becoming Master in 1640.
Source: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=89644, as of 04/04/2016