German silver watch with experimental escapement Circa 1780

Silver keywind pocket watch by Philipp Matthäus Hahn
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A very rare German pocket watch with experimental escapement, circa 1780.
Polished quality silver case, punched LHV 3725. Enamel dial with Breguet-style radial hours, outer minutes track, and attractive Breguet hands. Extremely rare, signed movement with experimental escapement.
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Diameter: 60 mm
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Weight: 112 g
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Signed: Matthäus Hahn Echterdingen
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Philipp Matthäus Hahn,
Pastor in Onstmettingen, Kornwestheim and Echterdingen (1739-1790) was an ambitious protestant priest and one of the most outstanding precision watchmakers of the 18th century.
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He made numerous high-quality pocket watches, almost all of them with calendar movement and moon phases. He made sundials and bracket clocks with astronomical indications as well as astronomical watches and calendar movements, all of them excellent pieces. His large observatory clock is today a highlight of the clock museum in Furtwangen. Hahn was the first watchmaker in Germany who used cylinder movement for his pocket watches.
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Hahn was also involved in manufacturing calculating machines and scales and founded the Wuerttemberg scale industry, which today enjoys a worldwide reputation.
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His sons continued his work and signed their watches ‘Hahn, Hofmechanikus Stuttgart’. Apart from his sons Christoph Matthäus, Johann Georg, Christian Gottfried and Immanuel, Philipp Matthäus Hahn’s brothers Georg David Polykarp and Egidius Stephanius Gottfried also worked in his workshop for a time. Of his employees especially to be mentioned are Jacob Auch, Georg Matthäus Burger, Georg Joseph Sandra, Philipp Gottfried Schaudt, Johann Gottfried Ewald Sechting, Mauritius Steiner and Christoph Friedrich Strubel.