French metal single handed onion pocket watch Circa 1710

Metal open faced key winding verge watch
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A fine and decorative French metal open faced single handed oignon (onion) pocket watch, made by Himly in Colmar, circa 1710. This watch has a mechanical key winding full plate movement with a verge escapement, chain fusee, spiral balance, an advance/retard adjustment disc, and a decorated continental balance cock supported by ornately decorated pillars, signed on the backplate Himly à Colmar. The white enamel dial features black Roman numerals for the hours, an inner railroad track marked for hours, half hours, and quarters, a single hand, and a winding aperture near 2 o’clock. The timepiece is housed in a substantial, round metal open faced onion case, with the reverse back cover finely engraved with a six pointed star intersected by radiating rays, surrounded by a chased foliage border along the caseband.
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Diameter: 59 mm
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Signed: Himly à Colmar
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Himly (also recorded as Himlin) was a prominent master watchmaker active in Colmar, Alsace, during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Located at a major cultural and commercial crossroads between French and German watchmaking traditions, Himly played a key role in bringing refined French horology to Alsace during the late reign of Louis XIV and the early Regency period.
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He is best known for crafting classic French oignon pocket watches, characterized by their deep, bulbous profile and robust full plate verge movements with chain fusees. Himly’s timepieces frequently feature single handed dials with dedicated inner tracks for reading hours, half hours, and quarters. His cases and movement plates were typically embellished with intricate geometric and solar engravings alongside delicately chased continental balance cocks. Today, authentic timepieces signed Himly à Colmar are rare and prized by collectors as significant historical examples of early 18th-century regional French horology.