English repoussé verge with a blued snake automaton Circa 1720

Gold repoussé verge pocket watch attributed to John Bushman
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An important, English gold repoussé verge pocket watch: Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden with a blued snake automaton, circa 1720.
22-Carat gold, polished case with a glazed aperture on the back reveals a gold chased and engraved repoussé scene, case maker’s punch mark IB (John Bushman?), gilt movement protection cap, and large lateral hinge. Enamel dial with radial Roman hours and blued Poker & Beetle hands. Full plate movement, fire-gilt, chain/fusee, baluster shaped movement pillars, three-arm brass balance, applied gold disc with Repoussé scene depicting Eve offering Adam the apple in the Garden of Eden, a snake circles the scene as the watch runs.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Weight: 119 g
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Signed: No name
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John Bushman
John Bushman (also Buschman or Buschmann) was born 1661 in Augsburg, Germany. In 1690, he got married as Johannes Busshman to 23-year-old Mary Wyatt at Christ Church, London. In 1692, he became a Brother of the Clockmakers Company and was made an Assistant in 1720. Bushman presumably worked until 1725. The book “Merkwürdige Reisen durch Niedersachsen Holland und Engeland” (Curious travels through Lower Saxony, Holland and England, first published in 1753) by Zaccharias Konrad Uffenbach mentions him as a watchmaker just as good as Daniel Quare or Thomas Tompion: “He is well and truly a humble, polite and goodly man who still speaks good German and never cheats his customers!” He is known to have created several clocks with serpent automatons.