French gold coach watch with a verge escapement Circa 1675

Gold verge watch with self strike and alarm
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A self striking coach watch with alarm made by Abraham Yver in Angoulême, France, circa 1675. This watch features an extremely unusual open faced, pierced and engraved case with a bell and is crafted from gold. Its engraved gold face has a decentralized dial with Roman hours, an outer minute track, Arabic five minute numerals, an inner chapter ring for the alarm and iron hands. The highly complicated movement is fitted with a verge escapement, very special pillars and pierced barrels.
The dial and movement are signed.
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Diameter: 68 mm
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Weight: 270 g
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Signed: Abraham Yver Angoulême
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The watch presented here is of museum quality. A coach watch from this period with a gold case is a real rarity, even rarer than the gold cased oignon watches, of which there are only about five known examples
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Yver or Hyver, Yuer
Abraham Yver (1620-1680) was the head of one of the most influential watchmaking families in France. In the ‘Memoire sur la Généralité de Limoges’, published in 1698, it is written that the Yver family of Angoulême enjoyed the highest reputation with the kings, and in the cities of Saintes, Blois, Poitiers and others. All family members were protestants and had connections to clockmakers in Blois. Ten members of the Yver family are recorded as living in Angoulême between 1670 and 1783.