Rigault, Blois

A SILVER VERGE WATCH WITH LATER LACQUERED PORTRAITS CIRCA 1640-1660, PORTRAITS AFTER 1850

• Movement: gilded oval full plate, verge escapement, plain flat steel two-arm balance, decoratively pierced pinned-on balance cock engraved with flowers and foliage, blued steel wheel and click set-up, fusee and gut line, the back of the dial plate with decoratively engraved oval border of flowers and foliage, turned baluster pillars, backplate signed Rigault, Blois
• Dial: silver, engraved Roman numerals filled with black wax, stylised fleur-de-lys half hour divisions between, quarter hour divisions to the ring beneath, gilded engraved border, single turned blued steel hand
• Case: silver, the back with later vernis Martin-style lacquered portrait of a gentleman, the interior with further later lacquered portrait of Frederik V of Denmark, bezel split for glass retention, plain ring pendant
diameter 34mm

Provenance:
At least three members of the Rigault family worked in Blois between 1619 and 1692(see Tardy, Dictionnaire des Horlogers Français, Vol.II, 1971, p.555).

Although the movement is mounted on a round dial plate, the two are not a 'marriage'. The engraving to the dial plate which frames the oval movement plate is correct for a date of circa 1660-1670 which would suggest that the movement was either re-used from a previous watch or perhaps was an unused 'old stock' piece - the latter explanation seems the most likely since the fit is perfect and there are a lack of holes or marks indicating earlier use. The 'vernis Martin' style painted portraits are later and date from the mid 18th century onwards.