18th-Century German Watch

Description

An elegant gold watch and pair case in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, made about 1730, has a repeating movement signed “E. Vredig, London.” Actually produced in Augsburg or Friedberg, Germany, this imitation of a fashionable English watch has a pierced, engraved, and chased gold case decorated with Rococo motifs. Our distinctive adaptation is based on this rare original.

Produced in cooperation with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Stainless steel case and link bracelet. Quartz movement. Case: 1 3/4'' diam.; inner circumference: 8'' (adjustable).

Art History

Two types of watches were well established in western Europe by 1600: the watch that was mainly a source of information about the time of day, the day of the month, or the phase of the moon, and the watch that was primarily a piece of jewelry that incidentally told the time. By the last quarter of the seventeenth century, watches made in England had become coveted for their timekeeping precision, as famous English watchmakers had surpassed all but the best Continental European watchmakers.