Watch

Object Type
This watch has inner and outer cases of engraved silver, which are pierced to allow the sound of the bell in the inner case to be heard. It repeats the quarters when the pendant is pressed down.

People
The maker, Daniel Quare (1648-1724), worked in London at St Martin's le Grand, and later, by 1680, at the King's Arms, Exchange Alley. He was a Quaker, and is said to have died in Croydon, but he was buried in the Quakers' Burial Ground at Bunhill Fields. He was one of the outstanding clockmakers and watchmakers of the generation in which London watchmaking established a leadership in Europe. He was at the forefront of the development of the repeating watch in the 1680s. In 1687 he was granted a patent for his system of repeating work after a dispute with Edward Barlow, which was taken to James II (ruled 1685-1688) for adjudication. The lion and unicorn on the dial of this watch may refer to Quare's address, and to his royal patronage

Trading
The customer bought a watch complete with cases from the retailer (watchmaker, goldsmith or jeweller). You might buy the watch off the shelf, or you might commission a watch that had cases decorated in the way you wanted. Normally the customer met only the watchmaker or his salesman in the shop. It was the watchmaker's job to organise the army of specialist craftsmen who made and decorated the movement and the cases.