Wilhelm Friedrich Busch, Hamburg

AN UNUSUAL SILVER PAIR CASED ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR VERGE WATCH WITH RARE SILVER AND ROCK CRYSTAL BALANCE COCK CIRCA 1710

• Movement: gilded full plate, verge escapement, silver regulation plate, four-arm balance with short spring, large silver balance cock set with a rock crystal panel to the centre, broad decoratively pierced and foliate engraved foot, crested Egyptian pillars, fusee and chain, signed Wilh. Friedr. Busch, Hamburg
• Dial: silver, champlevé subsidiary dial for time with Roman numerals combined with aperture for days of the week with ruling planet, two further dials for date and moon age combined with aperture for moon phases, further wedge shaped triple aperture for month with corresponding number of days and planetary symbols, all hands blued steel, the ground decoratively chased and engraved with scrolling foliage and astrological symbols, gilded border, banners to the lower half signed Wilhelm Friedrich Busch
• Cases: plain silver inner, aperture for winding to back, indistinct maker's mark, plain ring pendant, outer case with square hinge
diameter of outer case 58mm, inner 50.5mm

Provenance:
J. Abeler notes in Meister der Uhrmacherkunst that Wilhelm Friedrich Busch was baptized in 1687. The movement of this watch has an unusual silver cock set with a rock crystal panel that reveals the balance and its spring; for another example of a movement with rock crystal balance cock made by a contemporary of Busch's, Andreas Golling, see: Sotheby's, Masterworks of Time Part I, lot 33.