Rare English silver and shagreen verge pocket watch Circa 1670

Silver verge watch in pair cases
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A rare English silver pair cased verge pocket watch, circa 1670. Fire-gilt full plate movement, screwed-on pierced and decoratively floral engraved balance cock, flat steel balance, fusee and chain, worm and wheel set-up, tulip pillars. Silvered champlevé dial with large Roman numerals, inner quarter-hour divisions, the centre with an engraved floral motif, single blued steel hour hand. Plain silver inner case, the back with shuttered winding aperture, outer protective case with shagreen covering and finely decorated with piqué work.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Signed: Edwardus Bridgman Londini
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The design of this watch appeared around 1670, although it is possible that this watch dates to a little later in that decade. Bridgman emphasized clarity in this piece by placing the large Roman numerals at the edge of the dial whilst still allowing for a substantial ring calibrated for the quarter hours. Watches with four-wheel trains (which allowed for power reserves in excess of 24-hours) were becoming increasingly prevalent from the late 1660s and the dial design of the present watch was one popularly used on such watches. These eye-catching dials would certainly have marked out their owners as being in touch with the latest fashions and the emphasis placed on their quarter-hour divisions would have suggested to the viewer, rightly or wrongly, that the watch was a more accurate timekeeper. These dials were also often fitted with a key-set hand, which helped to avoid damage to the dial’s surface that might otherwise be caused by fumbling fingers moving the body of the hand itself.
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Edward Bridgeman was apprenticed in 1655 to John Matchett of Russell St., Covent Garden. Bridgman was made a Freeman of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1662.