Early and rare French oval verge pendant watch Circa 1600

Self strike Renaissance pre balance spring verge watch
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An early and rare French gilt brass one handed Renaissance pre balance spring pendant watch with hour self strike, circa 1600. Oval full plate movement, abundantly decorated with floral engraving and applied flower arrangements, two barrels, gut/fusee, verge escapement, locking plate with internal teeth, ratchet wheel set up with blued steel spring, foliot.
Silver champlevé dial, the centre decorated with an engraved vanitas scene showing a skeleton on a horse with a farm building in a hilly landscape in the background, the dial itself elaborately decorated with flowers, tendrils, birds, dolphins and a mascaron to the top.
Large case made of bevelled rock crystal mounted in a gilt and engraved brass frame, the sides exquisitely ornamented with birds and geometric pattern of translucent polychrome Limoges enamel on black ground, pendant in the shape of a flower and fitted with a loose ring.
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Dimensions: 44 x 73 x 40 mm
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Weight: 185 g
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Signed: No Name
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The oval shape was the dominant watch form in the mid sixteenth century. By the end of the century other geometrically shaped watches like square, hexagonal, trapezoidal and circular became fashionable. Octagonal watches, for example, began to appear around 1575. Although most circular and octagonal watches have circular movements, the shape of this movement is oval. The watch cases were usually made of brass or silver, only very rarely were they created from hollowed out rock crystal or amethyst.