Circular pair-cased verge watch with date indicator

Louis XIV's decision to revoke the Edict of Nantes in 1685 caused many French Huguenots (Protestants) to flee religious persecution and settle in London. The maker of this watch, Simon de Charmes, was a Huguenot refugee who arrived in London in around 1688. He was made a freeman of the London Clockmakers' Company in 1691. De Charmes became a highly successful clock and watch maker working from his shop on the corner of Warwick Street and Charing Cross. By 1730 he had become wealthy enough to build a house called Grove Hall in the village of Hammersmith.

This pocket watch has a gold dial plate with steel hands. Like most watches of this period and type it has a pair case. To wind the watch the outer case had to be removed to access the winding hole in the back of the inner case.