Lot 277

French, 49 mm, 129 g, circa 1640
A neck watch of museum quality with one hand, hour self strike and vanity motifs
Case: silver, pierced edges and back, rear bell. Dial: silver champlevé. Movm.: fine full plate movement, chain/fusee, 1 hammer, verge escapement, three-arm brass balance.
The back is decorated with five round medallions with emblems and banners:
A tower, motto: Je brille en mourant (In death I shine in splendour); a winged figure (possibly Chronos?), motto: La vanité du Temps (The transience of time); a tree, motto: Avec le Temps (With time); a bird, motto: Elle cherche gitte ailleurs (Search for accommodation elsewhere) and a skeleton with scythe and Chronos with an hourglass, motto: Vigilate et Orate (Wake and pray).

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