Valued for insurance purposes at £10,000 at a recent Antiques Roadshow event, in its favour was a largely original verge movement with an alarm by Josias Jolly of Paris (1608-1642), a superb engraved silver dial within a pierced foliate inner case and a pierced shagreen outer case with pinwork initials and a coronet to the reverse.
With a French museum providing the underbidding, it sold to a London dealer, believed to be buying for his own collection, at £18,000 (plus 15 per cent buyer's premium).
£18,000 for prize clockwatch
The highlight of the two-day sale of clocks and watches conducted by Gardiner Houlgate of Corsham, near Bath on October 19-20 was this rare 17th century coach or clockwatch consigned by a Bristol family who had owned it for at least a century. Measuring 31/2in (9cm) across, it is shown here a little over life-size.