Owen Robinson & Charles Fredman, Napoli

A RARE GOLD ASTRONOMICAL VERGE WATCH WITH INDICATIONS FOR DAY, DATE, MONTH, PHASE AND AGE OF THE MOON, AND PERIODS OF THE DAY CIRCA 1715 NO.1352

• Movement: gilded full plate, verge escapement, broad decoratively pierced winged masked balance cock and foot with scrolling flowers and foliage, plain flat balance with spring, silver regulation disc with exotic bird's head indicator, fusee and chain, square baluster pillars, signed On. Robinson & Chs. Fredman, Napoli
• Dial: gilded with foliate engraved ground, three silver chapter rings for date indicated via a blued steel disc, time with blued steel hand and moon age indicated via a pointer mounted on a blued disc, the disc incorporating an aperture for moon phases, three further apertures for days of the week with corresponding astrological sign, months with their lengths and an engraved seasonal vignette, and periods of the day with the changing sky, central minute hand stepped to clear setting squares and pointing to an Arabic minute ring at the dial's edge
• Case: gold single case, the back with sprung shuttered winding aperture opened via a slide to the base of the case, central horseshoe ribbon engraved "Manuel Godoy, Principe De La Paz", plain stirrup pendant and bow
diameter 56mm

Provenance:
Antiquorum Hong Kong, 23 May 1983, lot 121
Antiquorum Geneva, The Sandberg Watch Collection, 31 March - 1 April 2001, lot 187