Hello Steve,
Thank you for sending in this pocket watch to mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to do that for you today.
TITLE:
Gent’s, silver, oignon case, verge/fusee, key wound and set, champlevé open face pocket watch, Silver case made in France, watch made by Johann Henner, Würzburg, Germany, circa 1730. Possibly made for the English market.
PROVENANCE:
It was bought in Germany (Wurzburg) in the 60's from a dealer.
DESCRIPTION:
CASE: Approximately 48/49 mm in diameter and 30mm in thickness. This is an Oignon type of silver pocket watch with champleve open face Oignon case. There appears to be a French silver hallmark inside the back cover, possibly ‘MG’ with a crown above (this appears to be a French silver mark with the MG representing a city in France (e.g. 'M' alone was Toulouse and 'G' by itself was Poitier). The pendant and bow are missing and only the long stem persists at the twelve position. The back cover has single round winding aperture for the mainspring. The six knuckle hinge includes four silver knuckles for the glazed bezel and the oignon back cover with two brass knuckles for the movement.
DIAL: Champlevé silvered dial with engraved and enameled Roman hours, Fleur-de-Lys half hour markers, and half-hour track to the inside with arrows at the hours and bars at the half hours, closed bar minute track to the outside with arrows at the hours and raised Arabic markers placed in oval silver cartouche form at each five minute marker. The dial center is engraved for watchmaker HENNER in the upper dial and perhaps WÜRTZ (abbreviation for Würzburg) with silver ‘C’ scrollwork, foliage and a pot of flowers. There is a steel Poker minute hand and a rococo fenestrated copper Chippendale hour hand (replaced) instead of the iron Beetle hour hand. (Abbreviations used for his hometown were numerous and included “Wurtzbu” written on the dial of one of his champlevé watches.
MOVEMENT: This is a watch movement made in the English style but made in Germany with a solid brass dial plate and rear plate. The dial plate and the back plate are connected by tapered and divided Egyptian pillars pinned at the back plate. The gilt brass open fretwork resembles those from the circa 1720s era. This is a verge escapement with its associated contrate wheel, with a chain driven fusee movement. Near the contrate wheel there is an iron spring running along the edge of the dial plate. It is hand wrought iron and worked into a decorative fretwork, very suggestive of Teutonic handcrafting. The back plate has a Continental balance cock secured at either end with blued steel screws in small tabs. The knurled edge of the balance bridge encloses heavily engraved scrolls of gilt brass foliage with a large human grotesque mask near the foot of the bridge. All is overdone when compared to the English bridges of this era. The upper pole appears to have a female Arab-head with two fire breathing dragon heads to either side, along with dense foliate scroll-work, while at the bottom of the bridge there is this large male grotesque mask. The gilt brass foliate scrolling continues by flowing down onto the rear plate and surrounds the brass regulator disc. The plate is signed “Johan Hemmer, Wurtzl”. The pendant and bow are broken off from the movement and the long stem is curved from the damage.
CONDITION: Case – Fair - Moderate amount of speckles of oxidation of the silvered case. The likely French hallmark with two letters under a simple crown is nice to see and indicates to me that the case was of French origin and exported to Henner’s shop in Germany (or the other way round). Moderate amount of scratching and wear throughout the inside of the cover. The biggest hurt is the long bent stem and missing pendant and bow. Dial – Nicely oxidized silver and in generally very good condition with the exception that the hour hand is a later replacement. Overall good. Movement – The gilt brass movement is good although the pendant and bow are broken off. The movement plates, verge fusee with ornamentation in the English style suggests this is where such a watch might be ultimately sold. In searching, I came across a watch made in Germany for George Graham of London, so there was quite an import business going on if they were supplying such a renowned maker with a German made movement. Overall, in fair shape.
HISTORY:
Johann Henner was born in Wasserburg on Lake Constance in 1676. Johann lived and worked in Würzburg. He was practicing his craft as early as 1700. He became a Grand-master of clock and watchmaking by 1709, and he died in 1756, a well-respected master of horology and working at his trade for over a half century. In 1732 he was appointed court watchmaker. He was known for making large pocket watches, table clocks, alarm clocks and watches with repeating mechanisms. He was quite prolific. Johann went into partnership with his son in law, Johann Trauner, in 1756 and that lasted until his death on February 18, 1756. He is sometimes confused with Georg Henner of Heidelberg who was working contemporaneously with Johann in Germany. It appears that they both may have died in 1756.
COMPARABLES:
~ https://www.ebay.com/itm/294135735285?hash=item447bdb23f5%3Ag%3A4CwAAOSwpzhggF9v&nma=true&si=xaLVPgpA7WUbNCqp7xnGR1S2fPE%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 (Very similar example from Germany and same era sold for $2037 in 2021)
~https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/pocket-watch-extremely-rare-french-pair-case-verg-4182-c-aab4732b7b (French pair cased silver pocket watch movement by Johann Henner sold in 2017 for 6400 Euros)
~https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/a-collection-of-three-verge-pocket-watches-282-c-53f458a94b (Three verge pocket watches the main object is a Johann Henner sounding very much like the subject watch. The three watches sold in 2017 for 5400 Euros.)
~https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/johann-henner-silver-pocket-watch-germany-around-43-c-f695ffe442 (Sold for 3000 Euros in 2014)
~https://www.barnebys.com/realized-prices/lot/large-german-striking-pocket-watch-signed-lichenauer-wirzburg-circa-1720-SSxACJqRAQ (sold for $10,300 in 2012)
~https://www.barnebys.com/realized-prices/lot/silver-repousse-pair-case-pocket-watch-9CYJJR4FyU (Pair case made 1750, sold in 2012 for $1984.)
PRICING:
This is most likely a French-made oignon case early 18th century with the verge/fusee movement made in the English style by Johann Hemmer in Würzburg Germany (where the client purchased this watch). I would think that with the condition issues, especially the broken pendant and bow and the replaced hand would significantly depress the fair market value of this watch. If in very good condition and no condition issues this watch would likely sell in the $2500-$3000 range. With its problems I think the fair market value would be in the $750-$900 range.
Thank you for choosing mearto.com for your interesting pocket watch appraisal.
My best,
David