French single handed Louis XIV oignon watch Circa 1690

Gilt brass and leather oignon watch by Martinot
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A very fine and very rare French gilt brass and leather single handed Louis XIV oignon watch, wound through the centre, circa 1690. Frosted gilt full plate movement, divided Egyptian 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, three armed steel balance with short spring, chased cock decorated with symmetrical inhabited foliage and strapwork, Tompion type regulator with silver scale disc. Engraved gilt dial with blue Roman numerals on white enamel cartouches, inner white enamel quarter hour ring, the centre decorated with strapwork and foliage, original steel tulip hand. The case back and bezel overlaid with leather, loose ring pendant. Movement signed.
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Diameter: 61 mm
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Signed: Martinot à Paris
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This watch is one of only three known examples of an oignon watch with the feature of a central fusee. 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 sized movement, 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 centre 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. Another example signed Yves Hubert à Richelieu was formerly in the Time Museum, Rockford, Illinois and is now in the Patek Philippe Museum, Geneva.