French silver Louis XIV verge oignon watch with alarm Circa 1690

Silver oignon watch by Isaac Thuret
–
An exceptionally rare and extremely fine French silver Louis XIV verge oignon pocket watch with alarm, circa 1690. Fire gilded full plate movement, Egyptian pillars, chain and fusee, an impressively large Louis XIV balance bridge with the finest decoration of scrollwork, one hammer, an overhead ratchet and three arm steel balance, the mechanism for the alarm clock is located in a barrel engraved with fine acanthus tendrils. White enamel dial with blue Roman hours, a central rotating gold plated alarm clock disc with floral engraving and a single spade shaped hand. The plain outer case with maker’s mark JLF, a fee and receipt stamp from Jean-Jaques Prévost and Paris guild year mark B for 1765-1766, the inner case with a diameter of 56 mm, openwork on the edge and decorated with engraved leaf and acanthus tendrils, bottom bell for the alarm clock. Comes with an embossed leather transport box and contemporary winding key. Movement signed,
–
Diameter: 66 mm
–
Weight: 263 g
–
Signed: Isaac Thuret
–
Isaac Thuret, one of the most important French watchmakers, was born in 1649 and died in 1706. In 1684, Thuret was appointed royal clockmaker to Louis XIV and clockmaker of the Paris Conservatory. He established himself at the Galerie du Louvre in 1686. He serviced the clocks of the Fontainebleau Palace and, between 1689 and 1694, the clocks of the Paris Observatory and the Academy of Sciences. On January 22nd, 1675, he made the clock with the first balance spring for Huygens and passed it off as his own invention. He later apologized to Huygens for this. Thuret also made clocks with verge escapements, cycloid jaws and seconds pendulums for Huygens, one of which is kept in the Boerhaave Museum in Leiden. He also produced a large number of religious clocks.
–
Jean-Jaques Prévost 1762-1768.