Monogrammist MN

A large southern-German Renaissance pendant watch of museum-quality, with alarm and stackfreed

Sold

estimated

19.000—30.000 €

Price realized

42.500 €

specific features

Case

Brass, firegilt, florally engraved and openworked, rear bell.

Dial

Firegilt, engraved Roman hours and half hour divisions, applied hour knobs for time reading by night, central turnable engraved alarm disc with radial Arabic numerals, florally engraved centre.

Movement

Full plate movement, maker's mark: "MN" within a shield, 2 barrels, 1 hammer, verge escepament, stackfreed, foliot and hog's bristle.

Diam.63 mm

Circa1590

Ctry.Germany

Wt.297 g

To reinforce the sound of the strike and make the watch even more attractive, the case is openwork design and ornamented with pairs of birds, vases and flower garlands. The 12 cutouts in the front lid show the hours on the dial. The bulging case band is decorated with period strapwork and allows pleasant haptic perception.
The watch is an excellent example of an early German watch with alarm and stackfreed. The stackfreed mechanism consists of a cam and a spring arm and exerts a retarding force on the mainspring. The design was probably invented in the 16th century in Nuremberg and used mainly in the Southern regions of Germany. The stackfreed was much thinner than the chain/fusee construction and thus allowed the production of flatter watches.