Cornelius HARBART on London Bridg (sic)
Rare early balance-spring watch with silver pinned tortoiseshell (turtle shell) outer, 1690.
£7,995.00
Silver pair case, the inner with ‘loose ring’ pendant, the original silver rimmed, tortoisehell covered brass outer beautifully pinned and numbered 604 at the pendant position. Fullplate fusee movement with symmetrically pierced and engraved cock with small early foot, tulip pillars and early skeletonised slide plate. Verge (recoil) escapement. Brass balance, with its early spiral balance-spring of less than two turns. Replacement silver champleve dial, blued-steel tulip and poker hands. 55 mm diameter.
Cornelius Harbart [Harbert/Herbert] working from the most romantic of London’s addresses, on the old London Bridge (well worth Googling), and known for some fine watches of the period, both gold and silver. Succeeded by his son, also Cornelius, the father is thought to have died before 1710.
NB: The single most important event concerning the development of the pocket watch was the application of a balance-spring. This allowed the balance (the oscillator) to become as isochronous as the pendulum in clockwork, thereby being given its earliest names of a ’pendulum-spring’ in ‘pendulum watches.’ This happened sometime between 1675 and 1680 when Thomas Tompion and Robert Seignior developed the ideas of Hooke and Huygens in a small series of watches for the King, Dean Tillotson, Jonas Moore and others – see Martin Ball’s Bringing the Work On 1675-1680 for more information about this seminal period in watchmaking history. Almost impossible to find prior to 1685, examples of these early balance-spring watches are becoming more available by 1690, and in callipers designed to have a slide/regulation plate, as in this watch by Harbert. That said, surviving examples this early are rare, especially in the Harbart’s condition.
In fine original condition, the shell covered and pinned outer without the usual losses and patches, noting that the watch has recently had a correct style silver dial made to replace what was a damaged later enamel dial. A collaboration between two fine craftsmen, the two-piece dial is made in the original manner, being hand engraved and matted – it is not an electrotype. Serviced and guaranteed.
Item available
Description
Silver pair case, the inner with ‘loose ring’ pendant, the original silver rimmed, tortoisehell covered brass outer beautifully pinned and numbered 604 at the pendant position. Fullplate fusee movement with symmetrically pierced and engraved cock with small early foot, tulip pillars and early skeletonised slide plate. Verge (recoil) escapement. Brass balance, with its early spiral balance-spring of less than two turns. Replacement silver champleve dial, blued-steel tulip and poker hands. 55 mm diameter.
Cornelius Harbart [Harbert/Herbert] working from the most romantic of London’s addresses, on the old London Bridge (well worth Googling), and known for some fine watches of the period, both gold and silver. Succeeded by his son, also Cornelius, the father is thought to have died before 1710.
NB: The single most important event concerning the development of the pocket watch was the application of a balance-spring. This allowed the balance (the oscillator) to become as isochronous as the pendulum in clockwork, thereby being given its earliest names of a ’pendulum-spring’ in ‘pendulum watches.’ This happened sometime between 1675 and 1680 when Thomas Tompion and Robert Seignior developed the ideas of Hooke and Huygens in a small series of watches for the King, Dean Tillotson, Jonas Moore and others – see Martin Ball’s Bringing the Work On 1675-1680 for more information about this seminal period in watchmaking history. Almost impossible to find prior to 1685, examples of these early balance-spring watches are becoming more available by 1690, and in callipers designed to have a slide/regulation plate, as in this watch by Harbert. That said, surviving examples this early are rare, especially in the Harbart’s condition.
In fine original condition, the shell covered and pinned outer without the usual losses and patches, noting that the watch has recently had a correct style silver dial made to replace what was a damaged later enamel dial. A collaboration between two fine craftsmen, the two-piece dial is made in the original manner, being hand engraved and matted – it is not an electrotype. Serviced and guaranteed.
