Lot 373

Attributed to Philipp Matthäus Hahn à Echterdingen, 55 mm, 98 g, circa 1780
A rare pocket watch with date indication
Case: silver. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement, open barrel, cylinder escapement, five-arm brass balance.
Philipp Matthaeus Hahn, minister of the parishes Onstmettingen, Kornwestheim and Echterdingen (1739-1790) was an avid protestant clergyman, but also one of the most eminent precision mechanics and watch- and clockmakers of the 18th century. He produced a large number of high quality pocket watches, most of them with calendar and moon phase indications. Hahn created sun dials and hall clocks as well as astronomical bracket clocks and calendar movements of exceptional mechanical quality and attractive design. Today his large observatory clock is one of the highlights of the clock museum in Furtwangen. He was the first maker in Germany to use the cylinder excapement in his pocket watches. Hahn was also very interested in the production of calculators and scales and laid the foundation for Wuerttemberg's industry of weighing machines, which still enjoys an international reputation today. His sons continued his work and signed their watches and clocks with the signature "Hahn, Hofmechanikus Stuttgart". Along with his sons Christoph Matthaeus, Johann Georg, Christian Gottfried and Immanuel, Hahn's brothers Georg David Polykarp and Egidius Stephanius Gottfried also worked temporarily in his workshop. The most notable makers in Hahn's group were Jacob Auch, Georg Matthäus Burger, Georg Joseph Sandra, Philipp Gottfried Schaudt, Johann Gottfried Ewald Sechting, Mauritius Steiner and Christoph Friedrich Strubel.
Lit.: "Meister der Uhrmacherkunst", Juergen Abeler, 1977