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Watch

Watchmaker: Edward East British
ca. 1640
Not on view
Trained as a goldsmith, Edward East was a founding member of the London Clockmakers' Company in 1631. A successful maker of both clocks and watches throughout the Commonwealth period, he remained a royalist and was appointed clockmaker in 1660 to the newly restored King Charles II (1630–1685). The plain, almost egg-shaped watch known as a Puritan watch is commonly thought to have been developed in England in reaction to the elaborately decorated watchcases of the earlier seventeenth century. Watches of the same variety, however, are known to have been made in the Dutch cities of Haarlem and The Hague from about 1625. This elegant example has a worm-and-wheel set-up for the mainspring, a pinned-on cock with a beautifully executed openwork floral design, elegant pillars of a type known as Egyptian, and a gut fusee. It has a duration of sixteen hours.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Watch
  • Maker: Watchmaker: Edward East (British, 1602–1697)
  • Date: ca. 1640
  • Culture: British, London
  • Medium: Outer and inner cases: silver, with a plain silver dial; movement: gilded brass, silver, and steel, partly blued
  • Dimensions: Overall: 1 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (4.4 × 3.8 cm)
  • Classification: Horology
  • Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.190.1468a, b
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

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Table or bracket clock, Edward East British, Case: ebonized fruitwood and rosewood with ebony moldings; Dial: gilded brass and silver; Movement: brass and steel, British, London
Table or bracket clock
Edward East
ca. 1665
Watch and key, Edward East British, Silver, gilded brass, blued steel, British, London
Watch and key
Edward East
ca. 1640
Pair-case clock-watch, Edward East British, Silver; leather outer case, British, London
Pair-case clock-watch
Edward East
17th century
Watch, Edward East British, Silver gilt, British, London
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Traveling clock watch with alarm, Thomas Tompion British, Case and dial: silver; Movement: gilded brass, partly blued steel, silver, British, London
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Nathanial Delander I
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