102nd Auction
2020/6/29
Lot 255
Bushman, London, Case No. 268, 54 mm, 139 g, circa 1720
A rare pair-cased verge pocket watch without hands and with "repoussé" decoration depicting Britannia
Case: outer case silver, inner case silver. Dial: silver, engraved scene with windmill. Movm.: full plate movement, gilt, chain/fusee, three-arm iron balance, very finely engraved, pierced balance cock, inscribed with the motto of the British Chivalric Order of the Garter "Honi soit qui mal y pense" (shame on him who thinks evil of it) and the motto of the Monarch of the United Kingdom "Dieu et mon droit" (God and my right).
This watch displays the time without the help of hands – when the inner disc with two cut-outs for the hours moves, it simultaneously indicates the minutes on a semi-circular minute scale. After the full hour at 60 the hour window disappears on the right and the new hour appears on the left. The outer case is ornamented with the image of Britannia as seen on coins, with the circumscription "Aurea florigeris succrescunt poma rosetis" (golden apples grow in flowering rose bushes) and the line "Securitas Britanniae Restituta" (the security of Britain restored).
John Bushman (also Buschman or Buschmann) was born 1661 in Augsburg, Germany. In 1690 he got married as Johannes Busshman to 23 year old Mary Wyatt at Christ Church, London. In 1692 he became a Brother of the Clockmakers Company and was made an Assistant in 1720. Bushman presumably worked until 1725. The book "Merkwürdige Reisen durch Niedersachsen Holland und Engelland" (Curious travels through Lower Saxony, Holland and England, first published in 1753) by Zaccharias Konrad Uffenbach mentions him as a watchmaker just as good as Daniel Quare or Thomas Tompion: "He is well and truly a humble, polite and goodly man who still speaks good German and never cheats his customers!" He is known to have created several clocks with serpent automatons.
A rare pair-cased verge pocket watch without hands and with "repoussé" decoration depicting Britannia
Case: outer case silver, inner case silver. Dial: silver, engraved scene with windmill. Movm.: full plate movement, gilt, chain/fusee, three-arm iron balance, very finely engraved, pierced balance cock, inscribed with the motto of the British Chivalric Order of the Garter "Honi soit qui mal y pense" (shame on him who thinks evil of it) and the motto of the Monarch of the United Kingdom "Dieu et mon droit" (God and my right).
This watch displays the time without the help of hands – when the inner disc with two cut-outs for the hours moves, it simultaneously indicates the minutes on a semi-circular minute scale. After the full hour at 60 the hour window disappears on the right and the new hour appears on the left. The outer case is ornamented with the image of Britannia as seen on coins, with the circumscription "Aurea florigeris succrescunt poma rosetis" (golden apples grow in flowering rose bushes) and the line "Securitas Britanniae Restituta" (the security of Britain restored).
John Bushman (also Buschman or Buschmann) was born 1661 in Augsburg, Germany. In 1690 he got married as Johannes Busshman to 23 year old Mary Wyatt at Christ Church, London. In 1692 he became a Brother of the Clockmakers Company and was made an Assistant in 1720. Bushman presumably worked until 1725. The book "Merkwürdige Reisen durch Niedersachsen Holland und Engelland" (Curious travels through Lower Saxony, Holland and England, first published in 1753) by Zaccharias Konrad Uffenbach mentions him as a watchmaker just as good as Daniel Quare or Thomas Tompion: "He is well and truly a humble, polite and goodly man who still speaks good German and never cheats his customers!" He is known to have created several clocks with serpent automatons.
Sold
estimated
2.200—5.000 €
Price realized
6.000 €