French verge Oignon pocket watch with watch chain Circa 1695

Brass open faced pocket watch by Gaudron
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A French, verge pocket watch Oignon with central winding, circa 1695. From the watchmaker to the King of France and to the Duc d’Orleans, with watch chain and original crank watch key.
Brass case, covered with tortoiseshell and with a large lateral hinge. Brass, gilt, chased and engraved dial, with blue radial Roman numerals on enamel cartouches, central volute and flower decor, and blued single steel hand. Full plate movement, firegilt, signed, chain/fusee, Egyptian movement pillars, large three-arm steel balance, pierced balance bridge with finely engraved acanthus scrolls.
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Diameter: 57 mm
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Weight: 150 g
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Signed: Gaudron à Paris
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“Oignons” were most popular in France during the last 30 years of the Sun King’s reign; only a few of them were produced later than that. Single-handed oignons such as this one are always wound through the hand’s pivot, where a central steel wheel under the dial transmits the power to another wheel on the worm gear shaft; two-handed oignons are designed with a winding hole in the dial. Presumably, there were workshops in France that produced ebauches for oignons, however, as of today, no such ebauche has ever surfaced. Oignons have a large gap between the plates which means that the parts of the movement are well visible; the viewer can easily see the individual parts and how they work like in a large-scale model – this was part of the great appeal these watches had. The oignon is a robust and useful pocket watches that – in contrast to the previous pocket and pendant watches at the time – shows the time with adequate accuracy.