William Snow in Marlebrough. A fine and rare silver and leather key wind pair case pocket watch with pin decoration Circa 1670Offered from the T P Camerer Cuss CollectionWilliam Snow in Marlebrough. A fine and rare silver and leather key wind pair case pocket watch with pin decorationDate: Circa 1670Movement: Gilt full plate gut fusee verge, pierced and engraved elongated balance cock, silver regulation, tulip pillarsDial: Silver with central engraved rosette, black Roman numerals, black inner quarter hour divisions, blued steel single handCase: Polished inner, leather covered outer with fine silver pin decoration, ring pendant and bowSigned: MovementSize: 53mm Accompaniments: Transcript of Nicholas Snows willNo other maker with the name William Snow is recorded for this period other than the son of Nicholas Snow of Salisbury, a town just 30 miles south of Marlborough (modern spelling) who in his will says that "...my working tooles belonging to my trade shall be kept and preserved for the use and benefit of my said sonne William Snowe..."The performance of watches greatly improved when the movements were made with four, rather than three wheel trains, and this is an early example. The balance cock has an unusually open foliate design which is superbly executed and both the table and foot are bordered, an exceptional feature at this date. It is fitted over a tenon - or block - in the plate in order to secure it in position in the traditional manner but it is not pinned to the plate but screwed to it. Snow may well have considered this a better arrangement than fitting feet on the underside of the cock foot and it allowed him to follow a fine and delicate design.The decorative pin work on the back of the leather covered outer case, which is in superb condition, is characteristic of the exuberant floral designs which appeared after the Restoration of the Monarchy.Provenance:Purchased from Dennis Brown circa 1947T P Camerer Cuss CollectionIllustrated:F J Britten, Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers, 7th Edition, Spon Lts 1956, illustrated plate 30, pages 48-9 and listed 'One of the first high-quality provincial watch-makers'T P Camerer Cuss, The Story of Watches, MacGibbon & Kee, 1952, plate 22, page 65T P Camerer Cuss, The Country Life Book of Watches, Country Life, 1967, plate 24, page 29T P & T A Camerer Cuss, The Camerer Cuss Book of Antique Watches, ACC 1976, plate 27, page 76Exhibited:British Clockmaker's Heritage Exhibition, Science Museum, May-September 1952, exhibit 250