Rare 17th Century Astronomical Verge Pocket Watch by Robert Grinkin

An extraordinarily rare and important silver and gilt metal…
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An extraordinarily rare and important silver and gilt metal astronomical verge pocket watch by Robert Grinkin English circa 1635-40 5.5 cm long, 3.7 cm wide, 2.2 cm high. An extraordinarily rare and important silver and gilt metal astronomical verge pocket watch by Robert Grinkin. English circa 1635-40. with green shagreen case. Robert Grinkin was master of the Blacksmiths Company in 1609 and Master of the Clockmakers Company in 1648 (the Clockmakers Company was formed in 1631). An early London Watchmaker, with examples of his work held in many museums and private collections. The verge movement has a silver balance cock but is otherwise fairly typical of the period with a tangent screw set up to adjust the rate of going. It has a long fusee with gut drive, and was made before the balance spring. This watch shows astronomical as well as astrological indicators, the former now being considered more desirable by collectors, but astrology was of great significance when the watch was made. The inner silver ring of the upper dial represents the approximate dates on which the various signs of the Zodiac commence according to the old style calendar. The calendar changed in 1752. The signs of the Zodiac are shown on the ring next to the dates. The circle of figures above the signs are approximate sunset times for the months shown in the circle above. The apertures on the right give the age of the moon, the moon phase and the time of the moonrise. The outermost circle gives the date. The blued steel indicator is pointing to the fifth. The aperture on the left gives the day of the week and the sign of the day. The Allegorical figures are the planetary divinities that governed the day of the week according to the Ancients. They are represented as follows: Sunday Apollo. Monday Diana (Artemis). Tuesday Mars. Wednesday Mercury. Thursday Jupiter. Friday Venus. Saturday Saturn. Illustrated on the front cover of the 'A H S Journal' No. 12 Vol 3, September 1962 and in 'Antique Watches' page 62. Provenance: Purchased from Camerer Cuss & Co in 1974 for 6,500 Pounds ($10,400). .For a relatable circular astronomical watch by Henricus Harper, London, circa 1670 see Bonhams New York 17 December 2009 Lot 12 which sold for US$35,500. In their footnote they refer to this watch: This watch belongs to a small group of pre balance spring English watches, all of which incorporate a similar year calendar display with concentric date and month indications, flanked by day of the week and lunar apertures. Similar calendar work can be found on slightly earlier French watches made during the first quarter of the 17th century. Although the watches seem to differ only in detail, no single watchmaker can be associated with them. Virtually all are signed by different makers. The earliest appears to be an oval silver watch by Robert Grinkin, Jr. (free 1632) which indicates the times of sunset rather than sunrise (Camerer Cuss Collection). Another, by Nathaniel Barrow (free 1660) has a Gregorian calendar and a movement that appears to have been modernized late in the 17th century.(Collection of the Clockmakers Company). The design of the calendar as an attachment and its similarity to others by diverse makers suggests that the calendar plate was the work of a specialist and supplied to watchmakers as needed. Instrument making and clock making were allied trades and were closely associated through shared apprentices. See: Brown, Joyce (1979) 'Guild organization and the instrument-making trade, 1550-1830: the Grocers' and Clockmakers' Companies', Annals of Science, 36:1 pp 1-34.

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  • Apollo - Apollo is the Greek and Roman god of the sun, and patron of music and poetry. He is often depicted with a lyre.
  • Moon Dial - If we imagine life in the 17th century, the only source of ascertaining the time of day or night would have been the local church or municipal clock striking every quarter hour, and able to be heard by all in the village. In England, when longcase clocks became popular and more affordable in the late 17th century, the function of timekeeping and source of time was moved to within the home.

    An additional feature on some longcase clocks was to display the phases of the moon, that is the new moon, the full moon and the waning moon over the lunar 29 ½ day cycle. This information was important for farmers for working out cropping schedules; for travellers to know the amount of moonlight on a night they planned to travel; and for those who lived near the sea required knowledge of the tides.

    Where included, the moon dial is usually in the form of a disc incorporated into the main dial plate, usually in the arched top section. The lunar cycle starts with the new moon displaying, which is a dark night sky and no man-in-the-moon face being displayed, and then progresses to the full moon face showing on the 15th day of the lunar cycle, and back to no face displaying as the moon wanes. Most lunar dials are partially concealed on each side of their opening in the main dial plate by semi-circular "humps" that allow the painted face to emerge slowly just as the real moon goes out of and back into the earth's shadow.

    Nowadays, details of the lunar cycle is published in diaries, almanacs, and newspapers and although some modern longcase clocks are still manufactured with working moon dials, they are more for decoration than for use.
  • Fusee - The fusee movement was used in clocks and pocket watches from the mid 17th century. The fusee is a cone shaped drum within the works that is linked to the barrel of the spring, usually by a length of chain.

    As the mainspring loses its tension over time, the cone shaped barrel compensates for this by increasing the tension, by pulling the mainspring tighter, thus ensuring the time remains constant.

    Use of the fusee in clocks was superseded by the "going barrel" in the mid 19th century and for pocket watches at the beginning of the 19th century.

    The fusee continued to be used in marine chronometers until the 1970s.
  • Shagreen - Shagreen is the untanned smoothly pebbled textured skins of rays, sharks or dogfish. In finishing, it is dyed, mostly green, but the colour often fades to a cream colour. Shagreen was a popular material in Europe during the Art Deco era, when designers sought to mould the French tradition of luxury with exotic and precious materials. Most collectable items made from shagreen are smaller objects, like glasses cases, dagger and sword hilts, dressing accessories, boxes and picture frames.
  • Date Aperture - A date aperture is a cut out section in the face of a watch or clock, displaying the day of the month.
  • Circa - A Latin term meaning 'about', often used in the antique trade to give an approximate date for the piece, usually considered to be five years on either side of the circa year. Thus, circa 1900 means the piece was made about 1900, probably between 1895 and 1905. The expression is sometimes abbreviated to c.1900.
  • Aphrodite / Venus - In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the goddess of love, desire and beauty, whilst in Roman mythology she is called Venus.
  • Movement - The technical name for the workings of a clock or watch, and does not include the dial or case.

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