Early English gilt metal and silver verge watch circa 1615

Fine and early gilt metal and silver oval verge watch
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An English gilt metal oval shaped verge watch, circa 1615. Fire gilt full plate movement, verge escapement, pierced and engraved pinned on balance cock, ratchet and click set up, flat steel balance, round baluster pillars, fusee. Highly engraved foliate gilt dial, Roman numerals with touch pins above, a bird and a salamander depicted to the center, an angel’s head above twelve and a wolf below six and blued steel hand. The dial engraving alludes to Heaven and Hell. To the upper half of the dial, the bird represents the soul rising after death, the angel above signifying heaven. A salamander was believed to be unharmed by fire and placed as it is to the dial above the wolf’s head, which represents hell, alludes to faith’s ability to resist temptation. The early and handsomely shaped blued steel hand is also particularly noteworthy. Silver band to the case with scrolling acanthus stems and leaves terminating in dolphin heads, centered by exotic birds, plain gilt metal covers, back with winding shutter. The oval case has a slightly flattened appearance below the pendant and above the terminal and is relatively slender, these features are typical of the period of this watch, around 1615.
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Diameter: 65 mm
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Signed: Houllgatte at Ipswich
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William Houllgatte, from Ipswich in Suffolk, was married to Margery Bassett in 1617 and died before 1644.