Important German gilded brass 24-hour cylinder watch Circa 1785

Gilded brass complicated watch by Philipp Matthäus Hahn
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An important German gilded brass open faced 24-hour cylinder pocket watch with moon phases, circa 1785. Fire gilt full plate movement, open barrel, open work balance bridge with regulator scale decorated with flowers and tendrils, large five-armed brass balance, cylinder escapement with a steel cylinder. White enamel 24h dial with red Arabic hours on the left and black Arabic hours on the right, the centre with four small subsidiary dials: constant seconds, the days of the week, date and moon phases in combination with the time from moonrise to moonset divided into red and black quarters of the night. Plain case.
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Diameter: 61 mm
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Weight: 127 g
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Signed: Hahn à Echterdingen
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The seconds are adjusted by an angled, sliding lever meshing with the second wheel.
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Philipp Matthaeus Hahn (1739-1790), minister of the parishes Onstmettingen, Kornwestheim and Echterdingen was an avid protestant clergyman, but also one of the most eminent precision mechanics and watch and clockmakers of the 18th century. He produced a large number of high-quality pocket watches, most of them with calendar and moon phase indications. Hahn created sundials and hall clocks as well as astronomical bracket clocks and calendar movements of exceptional mechanical quality and attractive design. Today his large observatory clock is one of the highlights of the clock museum in Furtwangen. He was the first maker in Germany to use the cylinder escapement in his pocket watches. Hahn was also very interested in the production of calculators and scales and laid the foundation for Wuerttemberg’s industry of weighing machines, which still enjoys an international reputation today. His sons continued his work and signed their watches and clocks with the signature ‘Hahn, Hofmechanikus Stuttgart’. Along with his sons Christoph Matthaeus, Johann Georg, Christian Gottfried and Immanuel, Hahn’s brothers Georg David Polykarp and Egidius Stephanius Gottfried also worked temporarily in his workshop. The most notable makers in Hahn’s group were Jacob Auch, Georg Matthäus Burger, Georg Joseph Sandra, Philipp Gottfried Schaudt, Johann Gottfried Ewald Sechting, Mauritius Steiner and Christoph Friedrich Strubel.