English gold verge with jewelled balance staff Circa 1715

Gold single cased verge with jewelled balance staff
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A rare English gold open-faced verge watch with early use of a jewelled balance staff, circa 1715, gilded full plate, verge escapement, decoratively pierced and engraved thick balance cock tapered towards the table’s end, blued steel frame beneath carrying the regulator and silver index, jewelled balance staff, plain flat balance, fusee and chain, crested Egyptian pillars, signed Daniel Delander, London.
Gold champlevé dial, Roman numerals, outer Arabic minute ring, blued steel beetle and poker hands, signed Delander, London.
To the case back a sprung shuttered winding aperture and small sliding catch.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Signed: Daniel Delander London
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To incorporate pierced rubies and ruby or diamond endstones to his balance staff pivots. In the movement of this watch, which is of exceptional quality and finish, the jewel holes for the balance staff consist of two plates of rubies at each end, the inner rubies are pierced and chamfered for the pivots. The upper jewelling has a polished steel setting which is screwed to a brass ring incorporated into the cock’s design – this feature is often lacking from watches with later added jewelling. The cock itself is notably thick and tapers towards the end of the table, beneath which a blued steel frame carries the regulator and silver index.

The gold case may have a maker’s mark that is obscured by the pivoted steel arm, however, a later watch by Delander, which is in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, and which also has a similar pendant and bow, has the maker’s mark WI, probably for William Jaques.

Daniel Delander was born c. 1678 and apprenticed in April 1692 to Charles Halsted before transferring to Thomas Tompion. He was free of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1699. Delander took on a number of apprentices and it is believed he died in 1733. Although Delander did not produce many watches, they always appear to have been made to an exceptional standard.