Vautrollier Gold Puritan Watch This small, plain gold-cased watch, made around 1625 by James Vautrollier, is a sublime example of an English Puritan watch. It is identified as such because it is made from high quality materials, it is functional, no detail is superfluous, and it possesses an understated beauty. [1] It would have been very costly, despite its lack of decoration. Vautrollier was a gifted London-based watchmaker of Huguenot descent. He probably produced this watch at the start of the reign of King Charles I – a time of tumultuous change in England, which was characterised by economic insecurity as well as religious and political tensions. All this affected and drove the popularity of Puritan style design. Very few gold Puritan watches survive. Most were melted down to keep up with changing fashions or to address a scarcity of resources during times of crisis. No one knows how or why this particular watch escaped this fate. The fact that this outstanding watch, with its case and dial plate composed of high purity gold, has survived is truly remarkable. The details of this watch and the development of Puritan design principles, as well as the historical drivers that affected the popularity of Puritan style and the survival of watches like this one are explored below. A sublime Puritan watch The Vautrollier Gold Puritan Watch brings together understated beauty, quality and functionality into one elegant little package. As mentioned above, its double case and dial plate are made of high purity gold. It not only tells the time, but also has a calendar to indicate the date. Aside from a few practical engravings on the dial plate, the watch is undecorated. This, in turn, showcases the seamless design of the latch-locked outer case, the inner case with hinged lid, inset dust shutter and its bowl-shaped back. The gold chapter ring on the dial features engraved Roman numerals and half-hour markers. There are also Arabic numerals 1 – 31 (which represent the days of the month) engraved upon the outer silver calendar ring and a hand-shaped indicator engraved above the XII. The indicator points to the day of the month in the calendar ring. In keeping with Puritan style, the above features are minimally and simply executed, and each serves a specific purpose. Horologist Dr John C Taylor explains in the Clocktime video that accompanies this exhibit, the calendar ring is … not driven by the watch. When the owner woke up in the morning, he would then move the calendar ring one day further on so. Thus, the watch’s calendar complication is operated manually. This early verge watch functions simply and reliably as a timekeeper, because its movement is skilfully designed within the limits of the horological technology available at the time. This conservative approach to making is in keeping with the Puritan design principle (discussed below) that all objects must be well-made and useful. Thus, the time is indicated by only a single hour hand on its dial. A the time, precision timekeeping had not yet developed far enough for the inclusion of a minute or seconds hand to make much sense. Still, expensive and experimental complications often appeared on contemporaneous early British verge watches, such as the Lennox Pluvier Watch (exhibited on Clocktime), which includes a seconds hand on its backplate and was made around 1665 by Isaac Pluvier. This is why Vautrollier’s Gold Puritan Watch includes no optional extras or expensive novelties. It is highly likely that the watch was commissioned for or by an elite person of Puritan faith, who would have worn it on a chain like a pendant necklace or secured it around their waist, as was the custom of the day. Protestant reaction The development of Puritan style is clearly linked to the spread of the Protestant Reformation throughout Europe during the 1500s and 1600s. Specifically in terms of watch design, it was also a reaction to the decadent and ostentatious presentation of early watches during this time. Since their invention around 1500, watches were actively coveted and gifted as objects of splendour to express status and court favours.[2] They first appeared in the decidedly Catholic royal courts of Europe during the 1400s and were owned by royalty and members of the ruling class, as these were the only people who could afford them. Their subsequent development remained a court-driven phenomenon, fuelled by the competition and conspicuous consumption of the European ruling classes. Right on through the 1600s, early verge watches continued to be used as courtly objects and diplomatic tools to curry favour and express status. These watches tended to be sumptuously decorated and loaded with complications. They remained incredibly expensive and were still seen as one of the latest technological marvels, even though, by modern standards, these were not very accurate or reliable. As explained above, precision timekeeping had not yet developed far enough for some of these complications to makes sense.[3] Still, they were coveted for being the first complete portable timekeepers and were seen as the epitome luxury. During this time, Puritan style and, by extension, Puritan watches began to develop. Their style served as a direct counter to the appearance of courtly objects described above, as Puritans avoided decoration, ostentation and frivolous novelties. These were seen as vulgar and irreligious. Instead, Puritans cultivated the creation of useful objects that were well-designed. They also valued craftmanship and were not averse to creating objects that were beautiful and made of fine, quality materials.[4] In keeping with these principles, Puritan watches were typically egg-shaped with plain undecorated cases and devoid of decorative engravings. They had clean, simple lines, were functional and could be made of gold, silver, or gilt metal. English Puritan watches: a moment in time As stated above, the Vautrollier Gold Puritan Watch is a very early example of an English Puritan style watch. This style first appears in Britain during the early 1600s and gains in popularity during the years leading up to the English Civil Wars and during the English Commonwealth period, from 1649 to 1660. Their development was certainly a reaction to the extravagantly decorated watches seen at court during the early 1600s, such as the extremely complicated King James Portrait Watch, created around 1618 by David Ramsay, and the exquisitely decorated Miniature Rock Crystal Watch, made around 1635 by Edward East, both of which are exhibited on Clocktime. The development and growing popularity of Puritan watches was also certainly affected by three significant events, each of which was de-stabilising: the English Protestant Reformation in 1534, the reign of King Charles I from 1625 to 1649 and the rise and fall of the English Commonwealth from 1650 to 1660. To all intents and purposes, the Protestant Reformation truly took hold of England in 1534, when King Henry VIII broke from Rome and declared himself head of the Church of the England. Although the threat of Catholic uprising reared its head from time to time, England’s identity as a Protestant nation was cemented. Still, English Protestantism was never static, as English (and wider European) discourses on Protestant philosophy and practice were constantly debated and evolving. As a result of developments both at home and abroad, English Protestantism certainly shifted over time. Some of these shifts were subtle, while others were more obvious and more threatening to the status quo. In 1625, around the time that the Vautrollier Gold Puritan Watch was made, King James VI and I died, and his heir Charles I ascended to the throne. Almost immediately, things began to change. Charles soon revealed a penchant for expensive wars, military over-reach to step on civil liberties, and extravagant spending. Concerns were also raised by the King’s ‘relaxed’ approach to Protestantism, known as Arminianism.[5] Arminianism is based on the ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (b. 10 October 1560, d. 19 October 1609), who argued that humans have free will and are thus able to choose to receive the divine guidance that God makes available to everyone. At the time, this flagrantly contradicted the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. Arminianism proved to be extremely controversial in traditional Protestant circles. Charles’s interest in it certainly contributed to the complete breakdown of his relationship with Parliament from 1629. His fight against the Parliamentarians eventually led to the eruption of the English Civil Wars (1642 to 1651) and ended in his execution by beheading for high treason in 1649. Logic dictates that the combined effect of Charles’ unpopular wars, his militarised over-reach and his Arminianism contributed to the doubling down on traditional Protestant practices in Parliament and beyond. This, in turn, fed the development of a distinctly English Puritan style, which is evident in surviving English watch and clock case design. For an example of Puritan style features in clock cases see the undecorated, clean-lined ebonised box case on Ahasuerus Fromanteel’s Pendulum Box Clock, made around 1659. It was not until the Commonwealth period (also known as the Interregnum), probably not long after Vautrollier’s death and some twenty or so years after his Gold Puritan Watch was made, that the English Puritan style entered in its zenith. Horological examples from this period include the silver Puritan watches made by East around 1640. One of these is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Accession number 17.190.1468a,b), and the other is at the Science Museum in London (Object No. L2015-3100). A rare survival: the melting down of plate During the turbulent years of the English Civil Wars and the Commonwealth period, and even into the reign of King Charles II (1660 – 1685), objects, including currency, made of gold, silver and other metals were recalled and melted down in order to raise money or cope with a scarcity of materials.[6] This process is known as the assaying of plate. Also, during this period, metal objects were routinely recycled to keep abreast of changes in fashion. This is why the survival of gold Puritan watches in the historical record is so very rare. Broadly speaking, this period was disastrous for the clockmakers and goldsmiths alike. For example, King Charles I extracted so many fees on the City of London and its guilds that the Goldsmiths’ Company resorted to borrowing large amounts of money and was heavily in debt. Many of the goldsmith’s major items of plate (precious metals) were sold to keep their company afloat.[7] Antiquarian Johnathan Carter observes that ‘the clockmakers must have been even harder hit than the plate-workers; in hard times they could realise the value in their precious metal stock, but not so the clockmakers’.[8] This is perhaps why most surviving Puritan watches are made from gilt metal, silver or silver gilt, such as the silver Puritan watch made by East around 1640, mentioned above. Perhaps Vautrollier’s Gold Puritan Watch survived because it was guarded, hidden or ferried out of the country, somehow kept from the grasping hands of Parliamentarians and Roundheads strapped for cash to fund their armies. The survival of Vautrollier’s Gold Puritan Watch is truly extraordinary. Vautrollier’s hidden flourishes Only a handful of Vautrollier’s watches survive. In addition to the Vautrollier Gold Puritan Watch, his surviving watches include a decorated gilt and silver watch made around 1620 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (mentioned above), a watch with plain round silver case at the Clockmakers’ Museum/Science Museum in London (also mentioned above) and a gilt metal engraved verge watch also at the Clockmakers’ Museum/Science Museum in London (Object Number: L2015-3582). These are all datable to the 1620s and 1630s. Based on this, Vautrollier appears to have been at the height of his career during this time. Vautrollier was born in London around 1575 to Huguenot immigrant parents in the parish of St Anne’s in the Blackfriars, an area in London renowned as a hub of Huguenot making. It is not known where he received his training, but it seems likely that he learned his craft from a watchmaker in Blackfriars. This was not unusual as many London-based makers of Huguenot descent were trained in the Blackfriars area, such as the Huguenot watchmaker Isaac Pluvier (b. c1615, d. 1665), who came up in the Blackfriars and was trained by the famous Huguenot watchmaker, David Boquet. Vautrollier first appears in the historical record around 1622, when he is identified as an ‘alien’ working ‘without Temple Bar’. The term ‘alien’ denotes his Huguenot identity, as workers of Huguenot heritage (and training) were regarded as foreign workers during this time. Even so, by this time Vautrollier must have been well-established as a watchmaker as he was one of 16 clock- and watchmakers to petition King James VI and I to charter their own Livery Company, the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers.[9] Although we know little of Vautrollier’s life beyond the above, the quality and variety of his surviving watches indicate that he was an artist in his own right, who enjoyed a variety of important commissions. It is not surprising that he found a rather surreptitious way to show off his talents with the production of his Gold Puritan Watch. Although the visible parts of the watch, specifically its double-case and dial plate represent the pinnacle of Puritan style, Vautrollier snuck in an astonishing amount of decorative detail into the watch’s hidden parts. Specifically, he meticulously tapered, turned and pierced the four Egyptian pillars that hold together the plates of the watch’s oval gilt movement. He also added tiny highlight engravings to the outer face of each pillar – a detail that only the owner and those who serviced the watch would ever see. The construction of the movement is also a huge achievement. The above-mentioned pillars are riveted to the top plate and pinned to the bottom plate, as screws had not yet been invented. Vautrollier would have had to make his own tiny saw blades and files to achieve this. Vautrollier also used the backplate of the movement to further display his engraving skill. Mounted on the backplate is a worm and countwheel set-up, which is flanked by two pierced and lyrically engraved blued-steel scrolling brackets. Then, just below the countwheel is a pin-secured, gilt balance cock that has been exquisitely cut, pierced and engraved with scrolls and flowers. A final flourish of expression is on display in the lower third of the backplate, where Vautrollier’s boldly engraved signature, James Vautrollier Fecit, occupies the entirety of this space. The patchy story of a historically important watch Regretfully, no details survive regarding the commissioning of this watch. Nor do we know who the original owner was, nor how the watch survived through the tumultuous times discussed above. Perhaps its owner managed to avoid the assaying plate by hiding out in a country estate as the Civil Wars raged. Perhaps he or she left the country. It is likely that we will never know this watch’s early story. In fact, this important and rare watch does not officially appear in the historical record until 1978, when it appears as part of the Edward Hornby Collection.[10] Hornby (b. 1908, d. 1998) was a lawyer and preeminent collector of rare and important pocket watches in the post-World War II era. His historic collection represented forty years of careful acquisitions. It also included numerous magnificent early watches, including the Vautrollier Gold Puritan Watch. The Edward Hornby Collection was sold by Sotheby’s in December 1978. The auction catalogue was accompanied by a foreword from George Daniels, then Britain’s most preeminent watchmaker. In it, he describes the sale as a rare opportunity to acquire some fine and interesting watches of types that have not been available for purchase for many years. The auction was a resounding success, as 75 of the 80 lots sold. As for the Vautrollier Gold Puritan Watch, it was estimated at £6,000. It sold for £11,500. Following this, the watch spent the next 20 years or so in collection at The Time Museum in Rockford, USA, (Inventory No. 4453). In 1999, following the closure of the Museum, the Vautrollier Gold Puritan Watch became part of The John C Taylor Collection, where it stayed until 2022. It has since found a new home in private collection. Dr Kristin Leith, Curator of Clocktime February 2025 End Notes [1] Carter 2022, 18–23, Catalogue No. 3; Garnier and Hollis 2018, 128, Catalogue No. 6.; Loomes 2014, 498; Taylor et al. 2019, 15, Exhibition No.2:3; White 1989, 51. [2] Koeppe 2019; Plassmeyer 2019. [3] This is particularly the case for early verge watches made with minute or seconds hands, such as the Lennox Pluvier Watch, which was made by Isaac Pluvier around 1665 and is exhibited on Clocktime. [4] Although his persona is synonymous with popular notions of Puritanical restraint and disdain for ostentation, even Oliver Cromwell, the Puritan and notorious ruler of England’s Commonwealth from 1653 until his death in 1658, still appreciated quality and was even interested in the latest mechanical marvels of the day, namely watches and clocks. He was a champion of Ahasuerus Fromanteel (one of the greatest and most innovative clockmakers of his day), favoured pocket watches of the Puritan style, and clearly understood the value of forging alliances with the powerful guilds and their illustrious members, such as the wealthy and successful clockmaker Edward East, who was a member of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and the Goldsmith’s Company. For watches that have been linked to Cromwell, read Crowell’s story here on Clocktime. [5] Sharpe 1997, 16. [6] Carter 2022, 21; Taylor et al. 2019, 15. [7] During the Civil Wars, the Goldsmiths’ Company court records show that ‘assaying of plate’ was all but stopped. Members of the Company, and the clockmakers, must have been greatly relieved when the market began to stabilise. For a history of the Goldsmiths’ Company, visit their website. [8] Carter 2021, 34. [9] It was not until 1631 that King Charles I, the son of King James, granted the clockmakers’ petition and chartered the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers.) You can read more about the founding of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers here. [10] Carter 2022, 22. References Carter, J. 2021. The John C Taylor Collection: Part I (Selling Exhibition Catalogue, Carter Marsh & Co). Winchester: Carter Marsh & Co. Carter, J. 2022. The John C Taylor Collection: Part III (Selling Exhibition Catalogue, Carter Marsh & Co). Winchester: Carter Marsh & Co. Garnier, R. and L. Hollis. 2018a. Innovation & Collaboration: The early development of the pendulum clock in London. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. Koeppe, W. 2019. Making Marvels: Science and splendour at the courts of Europe. New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Loomes, Brian. 2014. Clockmakers of Britain: 1286 – 1700. Mayfield, Ashbourne: Mayfield Books, p. 498. Plassmeyer, P. 2019. ‘Scientific instruments as courtly objects’ in Making Marvels: Science and splendour at the courts of Europe. New York, NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sharpe, J. A. 1997. Early Modern England: A social history 1550 – 1760 (second edition). London: Arnold. Taylor, J. C. and K. Leith (with contributions by T. Phillipson). 2019. The Luxury of Time: Clocks from 1550–1750. Isle of Man: Fromanteel Ltd. White, George. 1989. The English Lantern Clock. Woodbridge: ACC Art Books.
