The Watch of Oliver Cromwell.
The following watch was made about 1625 by Jonn Midwall in Fleet Street, who was Warden of the Clockmakers' Co. in 1635, and died about 1638. It is one of the early examples of a fob-watch. The case is of plain silver, fitted with glass over the face, and the chain of the same metal. The family crest of Cromwell was a demi-lion holding a ring in its paw, but the Protector substituted for the ring the handle of a tilting spear, as engraved on the chain; the Cromwell arms on the reverse, and the initials O.C., certify to its genuineness. The arms as engraved and the crest are identical with those on the banner used at the Protector's funeral. The silver seals which were at one time attached to this chain are now absent, but they were a few years back in the possession of some descendants of the Cromwellian family, who allowed Sir Charles Fellows to take impressions of them. The watch, as it is here engraved, remained for upwards of a century in Holland, was there purchased by an English nobleman who presented it to his godson, and by him given to Sir C. Fellows, who believed that it was probably worn by Cromwell from 1625 until his death in 1658. In shape it reminds one of the Nuremberg egg watch. The following is an excellent example of an early watch-case of the round shape still in use.
Early Ornamental Round Watch-case.
John Milton's Watch, made by William Bunting, London, 1631.
The history of this watch is somewhat singular. From inscriptions which appear upon it, it seems to have been made by William Bunting, (whose name is entered upon the books of the Clockmakers' Co. as elected to their court in 1645, he being then resident in Pope's Head Alley, Cornhill,) in 1631, and presented to John Milton in the same year, which was the date of the poet's leaving Christ's College, Cambridge, and taking up his residence with his father in Horton, Buckinghamshire, he being then about 23 years of age. From that time down to the early part of the present century we have no record of the watch or its possessors, but that in 1819 it was bequeathed by the last surviving member of an old family in Baltimore in the United States, who had treasured it for some generations, to some old ladies residing near London, the bequest including also a number of coins of the reigns of Charles the 1st and 2nd, some medals of Fairfax and others, as well as a few rings, but nothing of a later date. The chest which contained all these relics safely arrived in London, and not long after was, with its contents, offered for sale to an eminent chronometer-maker. The coins and medals being in an excellent state of preservation were soon disposed of at high prices, but the watch being only silver gilt, and steel-faced, was considered to be of little value, and a few shillings only were allowed as a fair price for it. It was put into a drawer in its discoloured state and there remained until 1828, when for the first time the inscription on the face of it was discovered upon its being accidentally cleaned up, and it was then presented to Sir Charles Fellows, well known for his connoisseurship in such matters, and as a collector of ancient time-pieces. The maker's name upon the inside of this watch is thus given: 'Gulielmus Bunting, London, 1631.' Sir Charles Fellows died in 1860 and bequeathed this one watch only to the nation; but his relict, Lady Fellows, who died in 1874, left the whole of the celebrated collection of ancient watches which her husband had brought together, to the British Museum.