Swiss silver Memento Mori skull form watch Circa 1650

Silver memento mori skull watch by Isaac Penard
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A Swiss silver Memento Mori skull form watch, case circa 1810-20, movement circa 1650. Gilt brass and steel full plate verge movement, cut and pierced foliate engraved balance cock secured by a screw, flat steel balance, worm and wheel set-up, fusée and gut line. Signed on the back plate of the movement: Isaac Penard. The lower jaw is hinged to the base of the skull to make a cover for the watch’s dial. The silver dial is engraved and filled with niello, marking the hours with Roman numerals (I–XII) and the half hours with fleurs-de-lis. Watchmaker: Isaac Penard, Swiss; case maker: probably the Firm of Moulinié, Bautte & Moynier, Swiss.
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Dimensions: 51 x 35 x 40 mm
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Signed: Isaac Penard
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The skull watch was a speciality of Geneva, and to a lesser extent, of Blois, both prominent centres of Protestant watchmakers during the first decades of the seventeenth century.
Isaac Penard was a native Swiss who was apprenticed to the Genevan master Jacques Sermand (1595–1651), a well-known maker of skull watches as well as watches in such shapes as tulip buds, crosses, and stars. The sundial motto Oh, remember how short my time is, from the Eighty-ninth Psalm, explains the form of this watch.
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The text, memento more, is a Latin phrase that translates to, remember that you will die. It is often used as a reminder of the inevitability of death and the need to live life to the fullest. The term memento means to remember, and mori means to die. It has been a theme in art, literature, and philosophy throughout history.