English silver rare and small puritan verge watch Circa 1635

Rare and small puritan verge watch
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An English rare and small puritan verge watch, circa 1635, gilded full plate movement, verge escapement, decoratively pierced and floral engraved pinned on balance cock and foot, flat steel balance, wheel and click set up, three wheel train, fusee and gut line, round baluster pillars, movement signed Thomas Hows in Popeshead ally an engraved sun between the name and location.
Flat silver dial with Roman numerals, half hour marks, inner quarter hour divisions, single blued steel double ended hour hand with foliate head, four tags to the edge for case placement.
Plain silver inner case, the back with shuttered winding aperture, lacking outer case
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Diameter: 34 mm
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Signed: Thomas Hows in Popeshead ally

Watches of standard size made prior to 1640/1645 were almost universally octagonal or oval, however, this exquisite petite watch of about 1635 is circular. The movement is remarkably original and in outstanding condition.

Thomas Howes was a founding member of the Clockmakers’ Company and one of the original subscribers to its formation in 1630. Howes was made an Assistant to the Clockmakers’ in 1640 and a Warden in 1642, the same year as his last attendance.

Pope’s Head Alley runs north out of Lombard Street towards Cornhill and opposite the south side of the Royal Exchange. The name was first recorded in 1624 and was named after the ‘Popes Heade Tavern’. The movement of this watch has a small engraved sun between the signature ‘Thomas Hows’ and ‘In Popeshead Ally’. Streets were not numbered at this time so shops and other premises employed signs to mark their location; it is possible that Howes used the sign of the sun to suggest time.