Lot 367

A collection of 2 verge pocket watches
Bolslandon à Metz, 58 mm, 157 g, circa 1680
A large one-handed verge pocket watch "Oignon" with mock pendulum balance
Case: brass, mythological repoussé decoration. Dial: brass, firegilt, enamel cartouches with radial Roman numerals. Movm.: full plate movement, chain/fusee.
"Oignons" were most popular in France during the last 30 years of the Sun King’s reign; only a few of them were produced later than that. Single-handed oignons such as this one are always wound through the hand’s pivot where a central steel wheel under the dial transmits the power to another wheel on the worm gear shaft; two-handed oignons are designed with a winding hole in the dial. Presumably there were workshops in France that produced ebauches for oignons, however, as of today no such ebauche has ever surfaced. Oignons have a large gap between the plates which means that the parts of the movement are well visible; the viewer can easily see the individual parts and how they work like in a large-scale model - this was part of the great appeal these watches had. The oignon is robust and useful pocket watches that - in contrast to the previous pocket and pendant watches at the time - shows the time with adequate accuracy.
Provenance: Landrock Collection

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