- a pair cased silver pre hairspring verge pocket watch with hour self striking and alarm. signed Nourry A Lyon...fire gilded movement with chain and fusee. pierced barrel for the striking train which has a two gate lock and release system. a third spring barrel runs the alarm train.
- silver pair cases...open pierced and engraved three piece inner case with the hinge ring keyed and pinned to the case. bezel with high domed glass
- outer case with engraving and piercing with 5 piece hinge and a very heavy brow/bezel on front rim.
- no hair spring with a steel two armed balance. tangential set up on the mainspring in blued steel. (typical of pre-hairspring watches)
- winding holes for the self striking and going train arbors but not for the alarm.
- silver champleve dial with inner rotating alarm dial...steel hands
I believe this watch to be attributed to Pierre Nourry who died in 1672. there is evidence on the fusee cone of once having a gut string instead of a chain...the dial looks to be circa 1680 but there is no sign of any extra holes. the outer case looks to be correct for the inner (note the heavy bezel with floral pattern) also... there is a patterned band on the outer edge of the dial plate which is covered by the outer dial. I hazard a guess that this watch was finished after Pierre Nourrys Death by another watch maker.
- heavily damaged inner case with later bow.
- outer case has wear and has worn through in one spot.
- converted back to pre-hairspring.
an interesting watch well worth the effort of repair work on the cases...extremely rare to come with an outer case.
runs and strikes nice and clear...alarm functions. 58 mm in diameter.