Sebastian Mahl, Fridberg

A LARGE SILVER REPOUSSE QUARTER STRIKING AND QUARTER REPEATING COACH WATCH WITH INDICATION FOR DATE AND MONTH CIRCA 1750

• Movement: gilt full plate, verge escapement, pierced balance cock decoratively engraved with foliage and a grotesque mask at the neck, silver regulation plate, four trains for the alarm, repeater, strike and time, four hammers striking on nesting bell, interior bezel and barrels with decorative engraving, stylised lyre-form pillars, fusee and chain, signed Sebastian Mahl, Fridberg
• Dial: silver champlevé, Roman numerals, outer Arabic minute ring, central alarm indicator disc engraved "Alle verwunden Eine tödtet", aperture for month above 12 o'clock and date at 3 o'clock, blued steel beetle and poker hands, setting square for alarm disc beside 9 o'clock
• Case: silver, the back with repoussé chased and engraved with a classical scene depicting Neptune bearing his trident and calming the winds which are personified to the right of the scene, Neptune's chariot is drawn by hippocampi whilst his son Triton blows a conch shell in the foreground, shell and scrollwork borders, signed DW to edge of chariot above lower right-hand winding aperture, four apertures to the centre for winding the separate trains, the bezels pierced and engraved with scrolling foliage and shell motifs, aperture to the bezel between 6 and 7 o'clock for the pull repeat
diameter 117mm

Provenance:
Although signed by Sebastian Mahl, the present lot is very similar to other coach watches variously bearing the signatures Gilles de Beefe; Miroir, London; Jo Legeips, London, all of which are believed to have been made by Josef Spiegel in Friedberg. For a similar watch attributed to Josef Spiegel but with different repoussé scene, see Sotheby's London, Masterworks of Time Part I, 2 July 2019, lot 55. A half-quarter repeating coach watch by Spiegel can be found in the British Museum, to the movement of that watch, Spiegel has signed his surname in reverse: 'Jo Legeips, London.' Josef Spiegel is listed by J. Abeler in his book Meister der Uhrmacherkunst, 1977, p.590.