Lot 290

John Bushman, London, Movement No. 389, 54 mm, 120 g, circa 1720
An English verge pocket watch of outstanding quality with rare jumping hour display and "repoussé" outer case "The abduction of Europa"
Case: outer case - 18k gold, "repoussé" decoration. Inner case - 18k gold. Dial: gilt, chased and engraved decoration: a devil's mask, volutes and acanthus, inlaid radial Arabic minutes, window for the hours with Roman numerals on a silver plate, single minutes hand. Movm.: full plate movement, chain/fusee, ring balance with "mock pendulum".
We know only very few pocket watches dating from around 1700 with jump hour that was, moreover, created by a native of Augsburg who gained success and fame in London. The quality of the finish of the dial, which has a three-dimensional appearance, is outstanding. The outer case is attributed to Augustin Heckel, who like Buschmann was a native of Augsburg; Heckel was reputed to be one of the finest casemakers in London. He created a draft of this scene with pencil and ink on paper, which is held by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London; the motif was inspired by an etching by Gerard de Lairesse (1640-1711). Another case made by Heckel with an identical motif and a movement by Thomas Windmills remains in the British Museum.
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 clocks with serpent automatons.

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