French silver quarter repeating verge oignon watch Circa 1695

Gilt and leather verge oignon watch by Jacques Gloria
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A rare French fire gilded brass and leather one handed verge oignon watch without fusee, circa 1695. Gilt full plate movement, going barrel, three arm steel balance, florally engraved and pierced balance cock. Gilt dial, white enamel cartouches with Roman hours, a chased floral decor in the centre and blued steel hand. Leather covered case.
Movement signed.
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Diameter: 54 mm
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Weight: 120 g
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Signed: Gloria Rouen
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Jacques Gloria was born around 1640 in Dieppe, where he also trained as a watchmaker, later he worked in Rouen. Gloria built watches with a mainspring mechanism similar to a Maltese Cross position which he had invented himself, but without fusee. These watches also had a power reserve. Around 1670 he married Madeleine Barry and the couple had a son Jacques Gloria the younger and a daughter. In 1694 Dieppe was bombarded during the Nine-Year War, which is probably when Jacques moved to Rouen, where he became a master in 1696. In 1701 he was appointed Garde (Juré). Gloria lived in the Rue des Merciers. He died around 1705. The design of his watches prevailed in Rouen, Dieppe, Caen and Abbeville for another 15 to 20 years.
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Jacques Gloria was of the opinion that his watches could do without the fusee because they achieved a higher-than-usual accuracy due to the use of the mainspring. To compensate for the unequal transmission of power resulting from the unregulated spring as it ran down, the watchmakers in Rouen only used the centre part, which delivered a more or less constant force for approximately 30 hours. This, however, required a small scale on the back plate, which indicated the running time left for the spring. The endless screw regulator is very similar to that invented by Nathaniel Barrow in England and typical for the oignon watches without fusee the makers in Rouen produced.