English silver and gilt metal mounted oval watch Circa 1630

Fine and early silver and gilt metal oval watch
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A fine and early English silver and gilt metal mounted oval watch, circa 1630, gilded oval full plate movement with engraved border, verge escapement, decoratively pierced and engraved pinned on balance cock and foot, flat balance, ratchet and click set up, gut line fusee, baluster pillars, signed Jo Snow me fecit.
Gilded dial, applied narrow silver chapter ring with Roman numerals and trefoil half hour divisions, the centre with engraved townscape, broad river and two sailing vessels, outer border engraved with scrolling foliage, flowers and fruit, cherub head above 12 o’clock, blued steel double ended hand with a classical convex terminal to the head.
Case with plain silver covers, the back with shuttered winding aperture, silver band engraved with two rabbits and strawberries, strawberry flowers and foliage against a hatched ground, the inside cover with a border of two palm stems, decoratively engraved gilded bezels, gilded fixed pendant and terminal, the flat pendant engraved and shaped. With a brass crank key
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Width: 37 mm    Length: 63 mm
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Signed: Jo Snow me fecit
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John Snow was established for some years in Salisbury and made both clocks and watches. John’s brother Nicholas was also a clockmaker and lived in Salisbury from 1629 until his death in 1644.  As with John, lantern clocks signed by Nicholas Snow are also known.  John died in 1661 and both he and his brother Nicholas are buried at the church of St. Thomas at Salisbury.

Another watch signed John Snow me fecit is illustrated in The Camerer Cuss book of Antique Watches.