English silver hour striking coach watch with alarm Circa 1645

Silver watch with protective leather case
–
A very rare English silver hour striking coach watch with alarm and leather outer protective case, circa 1645. Gilded full plate movement, verge escapement, decoratively pierced and floral engraved pinned on balance cock, silver locking plate for striking and blued steel stopwork visible to the backplate, worm and wheel set up, Egyptian pillars, fusee and gut line, barrels for going, alarm and striking trains, signed. This clock watch strikes the hours and also has an alarm mechanism. The central hand on the dial is the alarm indicator, the small hand on the outside of the alarm disc shows the time. The back plate signed.
–
Signed: Edwardus East Londini
–
Edward East (born 1602, died around 1697) was apprenticed to Richard Rogers of the Goldsmiths’ Company in 1618. He became a Freeman in 1627. In 1632, against his will, he was made one of the first Assistants of the Clockmakers’ Company, which had been founded in 1631. He was Master of the Company in 1645 and 1653. In 1660 he was appointed Chief Clockmaker to the King, Charles II (ruled 1660-1685). His business appears to have been on a large scale, and to have had Royalist and Roman Catholic connections. Edward East’s will suggests that he was resident in Hampton, Middlesex, in 1688, but his business continued in London. His will was proved (its validity established) in February 1697.Designs & DesigningThe finely engraved naturalistic flowers are in the style of the prints published for the use of engravers and enamellers by Jacques Vauquer (1621-1686) in Paris and Blois (Loir-et-Cher) in France and Johann Paul Hauer (born 1629) in Germany.