‘Oignon’ verge, c. 1710

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EARLY FRENCH ‘OIGNON’ VERGE
François Colliot, Lyons, c. 1710

Verge fusee movement by François Colliot of Lyons (fl. 1699-1725). Gilt brass movement of very deep calibre with Egyptian pillars, signed on back-plate F. COLLIOT A LION. Tompion-type regulator disc with elaborate blued-steel retaining bridge and large exposed quadrant. Front plate retains original brass set-up ratchet and motion wheels, although the balance and cock are missing.Diameter 47mm, depth across plates 15mm.

This early movement is of the type known as oignon (‘onion’) because of its deep body, which gave the case an almost spherical, bulb-like profile. It belongs to a period when English makers had not yet seized the primacy in watchmaking from the French (although Tompion, Quare and the Windmills family had already established a strong claim), and when any watch was still a luxury item; and yet it already has exactly the same layout as verge watches made over a century later.

This image shows the deep-rimmed contrate-wheel and (to its right) the third wheel, which faces towards the front plate; in an English movement it would have been the other way up, at least until about 1785 when the separate third-wheel bridge began to be adopted.

The fusee is very obviously hand-made, with noticeable variations in the width of its deeply-pitched channel. The two objects pointing downwards above it are decorative screws fixing the stop-lever (left) and its spring (right).

Left This image shows an early method of mounting the outer end of the verge-staff. Instead of being retained by a brass plug or ‘follower’ as in English practice, the staff is pivoted directly in the potence (B) which is held to the back-plate by two ornamental screws. (One of these is marked C; the other has been replaced by a conventional screw of 19th-century type.) Note that these screws pass through open-sided slots in the potence, rather than round holes; this allows for a certain amount of adjustment for the depthing of the escapement, a refinement which the French later developed into a more sophisticated form (see the Aguimac movement) but which the English always neglected. The rim of the large crown-wheel can just be seen at A A .

Right The fusee-chain, compared with a mid-18th-century English chain (below), gives an idea of the size of this movement.

Above This view shows the stop-lever (A) and the spring which holds it away from the plate (B). As the watch approaches full winding, the chain bears against the inner end of the lever and presses it flat against the plate; this brings it into the path of a pointed cam on the narrow end of the fusee. When the cam comes up against the lever, the fusee is immobilised and the watch cannot be overwound except by violence. This arrangement survived without change until the very end of the fusee era.

Below Less than 20 years separate the Colliot movement from the English movement by Latham (right); yet there is a striking difference not only in size but in precision of finish as well.

Left This composite image, using the cock from another French watch of the period, shows
how the backplate would originally have looked. The dial would probably have been of an
early enamel type with a separate plaque for each hour.