Pair-case watch

Adam Roumeau|Nicolas II Massy|Henry Massy|Lewis Roumeau|Nicholas Massey the Younger

probably ca. 1695 · Case and dial: silver with blued-steel hand; movement: brass and steel · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Nicholas II and his brother, Henry Massy, were members of a distinguished family of Huguenot clockmakers. Their family emigrated from Blois to London, where Henry was born. After 1700 Nicholas II went to The Hague, where he apparently cooperated with his London based brother in supplying gold watches for Continental patrons. Adam Roumeau, a goldsmith from Marseille, was made free of the London Goldsmiths’ Company a few months after receiving his letters of naturalization in 1687. Both watchmakers and goldsmiths were part of the diaspora of French Protestants in the years leading up to and following Louis XIV’s Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The monogram on the outer case has not been identified.

Artist

Adam Roumeau|Nicolas II Massy|Henry Massy|Lewis Roumeau|Nicholas Massey the Younger

Date

probably ca. 1695

Medium

Case and dial: silver with blued-steel hand; movement: brass and steel

Culture

British, London

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917