French rock crystal shell-shaped one-handed pendant watch Circa 1640

Gilt-brass and rock crystal form watch by Barthelemy Cuper
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A French gilt-brass and rock crystal shell-shaped one-handed pendant watch of museum quality, circa 1640. Shell-shaped brass full plate movement, updated around 1910, barrel, verge escapement, a ratchet wheel set up with blued steel spring, two-arm iron balance without balance spring. Gilt-brass engraved dial depicting a rabbit, various insects and flowers, and the head of a cherub all in the style of Étienne Delaune, silver chapter ring with radial Roman hours and a finely cut single iron hand. The frame of the case is engraved in a leaf pattern design with a hinged and grooved rock crystal cover and back. Movement signed.
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Dimensions: 58 x 36 x 26 mm
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Weight: 59 g
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Signed: B. Cuper à Bloys
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Formerly part of the Prince Soltykoff Collection.
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The updated movement is already described as an ‘imperfect movement’ in the book Catalogue of the Collection of Watches – The Property of J. Pierpont Morgan.
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Cuper is the name of a renowned family of watchmakers who made themselves celebrated by the introduction of the watchmaking industry into Blois, an industry which spread from that town into a great many places in Europe. So far as can be known, the founder of the family, Barthélomy, was born in Germany in about 1530, emigrated to France and settled down at Blois. He appears to have been a man of noble birth and had two sons: Paul, the founder of the watchmaking company and Pierre, who also worked as a watchmaker in Blois. Both these men were sent to Nuremberg, Germany by their father to study the art, which Peter Hele (Henlein) had discovered, of making portable watches.
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Prince Peter Soltykoff was born in 1804 and died in 1889. He was an Art collector, grandson of Count (later Prince) Nikolay Ivanovich Soltykoff (1736-1816) and son of Prince Dmitri Nikolaevich Soltykoff (1767-1826). He moved to Paris in 1840 where he assembled an important collection of medieval objects, including a superb group of early watches and clocks. The finest of these were catalogued by Pierre Dubois, horologist and author, and published in his book in 1858. Prince Soltykoffs entire Collection comprising 1100 lots was sold by auction between 8 April 8th and May 1st, 1861 at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, and included some 87 Renaissance watches and clocks.
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John Pierpont Morgan  was born in 1837 and died in 1913. He was an American entrepreneur and the most important private banker of his time. He was president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 1904 to 1913 and well-known for his large art collection as well as his collections of timepieces and books. Watch enthusiasts are often familiar with his remarkable book Catalogue of the Collection of Watches – The Property of J. Pierpont Morgan, where this watch is illustrated and described in table VII and pages 10 to 12.
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Étienne Delaune, Delaulne or De Laune was born in 1518 or 1519. He was a French goldsmith, medallist, draughtsman and engraver.