Southern German gilt Renaissance watch with alarm Circa 1590

Gilded brass verge pendant watch
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A large, museum quality southern German gilded brass Renaissance verge pendant watch with an alarm, circa 1590. Full plate movement with maker’s mark MN within a shield, two barrels, a hammer, verge escapement, stack freed, foliot and hog’s bristle. Fire gilt dial with engraved Roman hours and half hour markers, applied hour knobs for time reading by night, a central rotatable engraved alarm disc with radial Arabic numerals and a florally engraved center. The case is florally engraved and has an open work design depicting pairs of birds, vases and flower garlands, the front lid with 12 cutouts shows the hours on the dial, a bulging band decorated with period strapwork and a rear bell.
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Diameter: 63 mm
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Weight: 297 g
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Signed: No name
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The stack freed mechanism consists of a cam and a spring arm and exerts a retarding force on the mainspring. The design was probably invented in the 16th century in Nuremberg and used mainly in the Southern regions of Germany. The stack freed was much thinner than the chain and fusee construction and thus allowed the production of flatter watches.