French silver and rock crystal scalloped verge watch Circa 1640
- Kenmerk
- AS1627
- Diameter
- 42 mm
- Estimate
- € 15.000 - 30.000
- Price sold
- -
Silver and rock crystal pendant watch by Gribelin
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A French verge watch movement in a later silver and rock crystal scallop form case, circa 1640. The case is from the 19th century. The watch features a gilded full plate movement with verge escapement, a screwed-on balance cock, and foot decoratively pierced and engraved with scrolling flowers and foliage. It has a plain flat steel balance, wheel and click set-up, fusee and gut line, and turned baluster pillars, signed Gribelin, Blois. The silver dial has Roman numerals with half-hour divisions between and quarter hours beneath, a gilded centre with a pierced and engraved scene depicting Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, surrounded by scrolling foliage. The case, added later in the 19th century, has engraved silver bezels, rock crystal covers of scallop form, and a deep plain pendant with a long turned terminal.
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Length including pendant: 60 mm
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Width: 41.5 mm
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Signed: Gribelin, Blois
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Tardy’s listing in the Dictionnaire des Horlogers Français notes that Simon Gribelin was active in Blois from 1588 and died after 1633. His son, Abraham, who was born in 1589, succeeded him as the clockmaker to the King. Abraham, who had 15 children, passed away in 1671 at the age of 82. It is likely that Abraham was the maker of the movement of this watch. Nicholas, Abraham’s son, continued his legacy. He was born in Blois in 1637 and became the clockmaker to the Dauphin in Paris in 1674. Watches signed by the Gribelins can be found in the collections of the British Museum, Ashmolean, and Victoria & Albert Museum. The rock crystal case of this watch, along with its silver mounts, most likely date to the 19th century, but they are in the style of the mid-17th century.
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The dial has minor losses to the black infill at 6 but is otherwise clean and crisp. The case may need the pin in the hinge replaced, but the rock crystal is free from cracks. The front case closes securely, although not completely flush with the case. The movement was running at the time of cataloguing.
Signed: Gribelin, Blois






















