Description: Gilt brass, front wound movement with unique experimental escapement (dial plate 35.5mm diameter) in later silver case. Small cock with big ‘ears’, typical of the French Regency period. Steel cockerel. Brass balance and flat blued steel balance spring. silver regulator dial. The two plate movement is separated by short, square baluster pillars. Back plate engraved ‘Pfeñinger’ and numbered ‘No. 657’. Lacking dial.
Additional Info:
The unique experimental escapement of this movement derives and is simplyfied from a development of Pierre Le Roy (fils). It is a horizontal escapement with two wheels, the upper wheel acts on a pallet as in verge escapements, the lower wheel with no vertical pins acts on a cylinder. Hence, it combines the cylinder and duplex escapements. The watch No. 3449 by Pierre Le Roy from 1759, has the same system, just with inverted actions, the upper wheel with vertical pins acts on a cylinder, the lower one on a pallet. It is unlikely that this escapement has been invented in parallel by one of the most inventive French watchmakers and by a rather unknown Swiss craftsman. Maybe Pfenninger knew the French master. Another possibility would be, that Pfenninger was apprentice to Pierre Le Roy. Unfortunately there are no records to confirm this hypothesis.
Johann Conrad Pfenninger (1725 – 1795) was a watchmaker and engraver, politically active in Wollishofen (Zurich) from 1777 – 1782. He was one of the last watchmakers in Zurich making his own watches. Many unique technical features are encountered in his work. His work is usually signed ‘Pfenninger Zürich’, ‘Pfeñinger’, ‘Pfeñinger Zürich’ or ‘Pfeñinger à Zürich’. He had one apprentice in 1760, Johan Sebastian Clais from Winterthur. Several clocks and few watches are known by him. Johann Conrad had a cousin named Johann Caspar Pfenninger, also a watchmaker in Zurich, latter signed his output ‘Caspar Pfenninger Zürich’, ‘Caspar Pfeñinger à Zürich’ or ‘J. C. Pfenninger à Zürich’
Antiquarian Horology 
