Silver date watch with revolving central hour dial Circa 1670

Highly unusual silver watch with date and revolving central hour dial
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An English silver pocket watch with fire gilt full plate movement, circa 1670. Escapement converted to lever, decoratively pierced and engraved balance cock and foot, plain flat balance, now with blued steel balance spring, worm and wheel set-up, Egyptian pillars, modified fusee now with chain, the silver dial with central disc engraved with Father Time carrying a scythe in one hand and pointing to the hours with the other and inscribed ‘I Stay for No Man’, chapter ring with engraved Roman numerals, outer silver date ring with a small indicator on the brass ring, plain polished inner case, the center of the back with an engraved crest of a Thistle and Bee, shuttered winding aperture, leather-covered outer case with fine piqué work.
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Diameter: 52 mm including outer case
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Signed: Robert Williamson Royal Exchange
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To the dial center is a revolving silver disc engraved with Father Time pointing to the hours with one hand whilst, in the other, he holds a scythe. Above his head, a banner reads

Above his head a banner reads ‘I stay for no man’ and his gait certainly implies that he is in a hurry. Interestingly, the Greeks confused their word for ‘time’, Chronos with that of Cronus the god of agriculture whose attribute was a sickle, in due course this became the scythe of Father Time. His wings seem to have first appeared in the illustrations of Renaissance artists. Robert Williamson was apprenticed in October 1658 and Free of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1666, the year of the Great Fire of London. He became Clockmakers’ Company Assistant in 1682, Warden from 1695 and Master in 1698.