Lot 364

Bucheman, London (attributed to John Bushman, London), 51 mm, 101 g, circa 1720
A remarkable pair-cased verge pocket watch with "simple" rotating automaton
Case: outer case - silver. Inner case - silver. Dial: silver, champlevé, polychrome enamel. Movm.: full plate movement, chain/fusee, three-arm brass balance.
The silver Champlevé dial has a fan-shaped window between "11" and "1" that displays alternating automaton scenes when the pendant is pressed. In turn, the window shows four contemporary portraits: a priest, a noble lady wearing hat and collar, a lady wearing regalia and a lady in a powdered wig and a low-cut dress.
John Bushman (also Buschman or Buschmann) was born 1661 in Augsburg, Germany. In 1690 he got married as Johannes Busshman to 23 year old Mary Wyatt at Christ Church, London. In 1692 he became a Brother of the Clockmakers Company and was made an Assistant in 1720. Bushman presumably worked until 1725. The book "Merkwürdige Reisen durch Niedersachsen Holland und Engelland" (Curious travels through Lower Saxony, Holland and England, first published in 1753) by Zaccharias Konrad Uffenbach mentions him as a watchmaker just as good as Daniel Quare or Thomas Tompion: "He is well and truly a humble, polite and goodly man who still speaks good German and never cheats his customers!" He is known to have created several watches with automatons.