Watch

ca. 1632–40

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 532

“How goes your watches ladies? What’s o’clock now? First Lady: By mine full nine. Second Lady: By mine a quarter past.” These three lines by the Jacobean playwright Thomas Middleton (d. 1627) sum up the unreliability of pre-balance-spring watches, which for the most part were more useful as jewelry than as timekeepers. The case of this example displays panels of the rare French émail en resille sur verre, a technique for embedding enameled gold designs in colored glass. Hackett was a goldsmith before becoming a member of the London Clockmakers’ Company in 1632, and he may have imported the case himself.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: Watch
Maker: Watchmaker: Simon Hackett (before 1620–1664, active 1630–60, master 1646)
Date: ca. 1632–40
Culture: British, London movement with French case
Medium: Case: enamel, glass, gold, and gilded brass; Movement: gilded brass and steel, partly blued
Dimensions: Diameter: 1 1/2 in. (3.8 cm)
Classification: Horology
Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Object Number: 17.190.1477
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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