Rare and early silver gilt metal cruciform watch Circa 1630

Very early silver gilt metal cruciform
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An Englishilt full plate cruciform shaped movement, verge escapement, elaborate pinned on pierced and engraved balance cock, click set up with pierced and engraved decoration, round baluster pillars, fusee. Silver cruciform dial engraved with scenes including the Holy Shroud and Resurrection, gilt chapter ring with Roman numerals, single blued steel hand. The hinged front cover depicting Christ on the Cross beneath the sun and the inscription INRI, the surrounding facets show Instruments of the Passion and angels interspersed with floral scrolls, the inside of the lid depicting the Sacred Heart to the centre and the blood of Christ, the hinged back centred with the Beatification of the Virgin beneath the sun and flanked by angels, the surrounding facets with decorative motifs including a cock and chalice, the inside of the lid with the sacred IHS inscription, the edges of the case with decoratively engraved gilt metal bands, elaborate pierced and engraved pendant.
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Diameter: 63 mm
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Signed: Jo Willowe In Flee ste
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John Willowe was apprenticed in the Blacksmiths’ Company to Robert Grinkin senior in 1609. He obtained his freedom in 1617 and, like Grinkin, he was one of the 1622 Petitioners of the Clockmakers to the King; he was also a witness to his former master’s will. This watch was probably made a few years before 1630 and before Willowe became a founder member of the Clockmakers’ Company. He was one of the first three Wardens in 1631-1632 and Master in 1635. John Willowe died in 1655. An oval-cased watch by John Willowe, dating to c. 1615-1620, is in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, a further watch by Willowe in a scallop shaped case can be found in the collection of the British Museum.