Pair-case watch
Daniel Delander|William Jaques
ca. 1715–19 · Outer case, inner case, and champlevé dial: silver and blued steel hands; Movement: gilded brass, steel, and diamond endstone · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
This watch incorporates an early eighteenth-century development in watchmaking: the use of jewel endstones—hard gemstones with holes drilled into them for pivoting the ends of the shafts to which the wheels are attached. This innovation was not only practical, helping to strengthen a part of the watch susceptible to wear and damage, but also beautiful. The large pink diamond endstone of the present example is visible at the center of Delander’s beautifully pierced and engraved balance cock.
- Artist
- Daniel Delander|William Jaques
- Date
- ca. 1715–19
- Medium
- Outer case, inner case, and champlevé dial: silver and blued steel hands; Movement: gilded brass, steel, and diamond endstone
- Culture
- British, London
- Department
- European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
- Credit line
- Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
