Large French gilt Oignon pocket watch with alarm Circa 1710

Gilt key winding pocket watch by Royal watchmaker Decovigny
–
An exceptionally beautiful large and heavy French gilt key winding Oignon watch with alarm, circa 1710. The watch features an intricately adorned gilt case with a gilding inside. It is equipped with an early Oignon movement, characterized by a balance bridge decorated with bird motifs and a very high and steep fusee. The dial is particularly beautiful, showcasing captivating cartouches with bird designs, blue Roman hour markers, outer blue Arabic numerals for the five-minute intervals, an inner white enamel ring displaying a half-hour scale, and wonderful blued hands. Considering its early age, the watch is in working order and impressively well-preserved.
–
Diameter: 60 mm
–
Weight: 157 g
–
Signed: Decovigny Paris
–
Noel (Noël) Decovigny worked as a master watchmaker in Paris from around 1700 to 1740. He was named Master Watchmaker to the King (Maître horloger du Roi). A Louis XV cartel clock is also known from Decovigny. In May 2014, watches were exhibited in Hong Kong by the Watch Museum of Morteau in collaboration with the French Chamber of Watchmaking and Microtechnology (CFHM) and the Consulate of France in Hong Kong. The Musée de l’horlogerie de Morteau lent around forty pieces for the exhibition French Period in Paris. One of them was a Louis XV Cartel clock by the watchmaker Noël Decovigny.

The last member of the Transylvanian Parliament, Mr. Sándor Nagy from Deva, was one of the largest collectors of watches in Hungary, with more than five hundred watches in his collection. More than two hundred watches still had their keys. In the collection was a small clock in the shape of a bastion, the work of the famous French clockmaker Decovigny, dated 1724. Noël Decovigny probably died in 1743.