French single handed Louis XIV oignon watch Circa 1690

Gilt brass and leather oignon watch with alarm and mock pendulum 
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A very fine and very rare French gilt brass and leather single handed Louis XIV oignon watch with alarm and mock pendulum, wound through the centre, circa 1690. Frosted gilt full plate movement, baluster pillars, fusee and chain, the short fusee with three spirals mounted centrally and directly wound from the centre, the barrel with undertier for the fusee chain coils, verge escapement, steel balance with mock pendulum, short spring, chased cock decorated with symmetrical inhabited foliate scrolls, Tompion type regulator with silver scale disc, alarm train with engraved gilt standing barrel, steel train, sounding with a single hammer on a bell in the back of the case. Annular white enamel dial with blue Roman numerals, inner quarter hour ring, the centre with gilt brass alarm setting disc with Arabic numerals and original steel fleur-de-lys hand. The case back and bezel overlaid with leather, loose ring pendant. Movement signed.
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Diameter: 58 mm
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Signed: Mousset à Paris
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This watch is one of only three known examples of an oignon watch with a central fusee and the only known example also with alarm. The winding arbor, also carrying the hand, leads directly through to the fusee. To fit this arrangement beneath the escapement and within the confines of a normal sizedmovement, the fusee is very short, with only three spirals, the barrel is normal sized but again due to space limits it has a lower inset tier beneath, which takes up the coils of the chain. The main advantage of this arrangement was that it gave the watch up to 30 hours of power reserve. However, with the introduction of the minute hand around 1700 it was impossible to place the fusee in the center and the arrangement became obsolete. One might wonder whether Breguet was aware of this system when he designed the ‘Souscription’ watch, with a single hand wound through the centre with a centrally mounted barrel.