Exceptional German walnut shaped musical verge watch Circa 1890

Gilt musical form watch by Gustav Speckhart
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An exceptional German gilded brass walnut form musical verge pocket watch, circa 1890. Full plate movement, key wind, chain and fusee, and a three arm steel balance, the musical mechanism has a pinned barrel with vibrating blades. Silver champlevé dial with Roman hours, half hour markers, an outer minute track, Arabic five minute numerals, the center decoratively engraved. A textured case in the shape of a walnut. Dial signed, movement numbered.
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Dimensions: 49 x 55 mm
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Weight: 108 g
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Signed: Speckhart Patent
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Gustav Speckhart was born on June 7th, 1852, in Schweinau near Nuremberg, Germany. In 1874, after years of travel, he became master in Nuremberg and clockmaker to the court in 1893. In 1889, Speckhart received a Reich patent (DRP No. 18835) for the innovations in pocket watch cases. Around 1890, he was commissioned by the clock retailer and collector Carl Marfels to build a large automatic clock, the so-called ‘Passion Clock’, which was ordered for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, U.S.A. It took him three years to complete the clock and it caused quite a stir in Chicago. In 1897, the clock fell victim to the flames at the Gelder exhibition in Arnhem. However, Speckhart was able to make a reconstruction on behalf of Junghans, which could be seen as an advertising object for the Junghans company at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. Today this clock is in the Schramberg City Museum. Gustav Speckhart died on June 10th, 1919.