Simon Hackett was one of the most noted English watchmakers of the period. The Clockmakers? Company made him Master in 1646, a distinction he held for 14 years, until 1560. According to Williamson he became a member of Clockmakers? Company in 1630. Baillie gives a date, 1532, at which he became free of the Company. Sometimes he signed his work "Simon Hacke". Two of his watches are in the Victoria and Albert Museum, one in Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, also with a Blois case decorated with flowers. Blois school enamels From 1620 to 1640 only the Blois school held the secret of painting on enamel. A goldsmith from Blois, Jean Toutin (born in Châteaudun), is credited with the invention of the technique between 1620 and 1530. Since in 1618/19 Toutin published six plates of engravings with designs for enameled watches, it appears that the technique originated about that time. Toutin developed a true method of miniature painting, refining the existing technique (that of the Limoges school) and extending the range of colors. He gave a precision, a sense of perspective, and a subtlety in tonal graduation that was previously unknown in miniature painting. Blois became famous all over Europe for its enamels; watchmakers from England, Switzerland, and Holland sent for cases made in Blois (later also Paris), having movements made for them (as in this case). These watches were costly objects and greatly appreciated. It is known that Mazarin and Richelieu gave such watches as handsome presents. Most of them were decorated with mythological and biblical subjects, few with flowers. Around 1625 a goldsmith from Blois, Jean Toutin (born in Châteaudun) invented a new technique of painting on enamel. Toutin developed a true method of painting on enamel and extended the range of colors. He contributed a precision, a sense of perspective, and a subtlety in tonal gradation that was previously unknown in miniature painting. Blois became famous all over Europe for its enamels; watchmakers from England, Switzerland, and Holland sent for cases made in Blois, having movements made for them. These watches were costly objects and greatly appreciated. It is known that Mazarin and Richelieu gave such watches as hand-some presents. Most of them were decorated with mythological and biblical subjects, some with flowers. In the beginning of the 17th century flowers became elevated to the status of a subject considered beautiful and worthy of being depicted in a painting. It was during this period that the "florilegium" was devised. This which was a collection of flowers and flowering plants, usually printed on copperplates, as opposed to the earlier woodcut prints. These were intended to be used as design sources. In 1611, J.T. de Bry began his work "Icones Plantarum", devoted to garden plants. The depiction of flowers for their own sake became an established practice. This was the origin of the still life with flowers. It appears that the artist of the painting on the present watch took his inspiration from Emanuel Sweerts? "Florilegium", which was first printed in 1612 and later reprinted at least six times. Very few watches with this type of enamel have survived. Most that we know of are from a later period, circa 1650. The most significant examples are in the Louvre (inv. OA 8303), one in the Walters? Museum in Baltimore (inv. 58.148, formerly in Demidoff Collection) and one in the Patek Philippe Museum. The present watch represents the earliest form of enamel after Limoges, developed in Blois in the 1620?s. It exemplifies the technique used by Toutin and some of his pupils. The half tones are rare; when necessary, as for the lady?s face, they are achieved by the application of small dots, the connections between objects are solid; the lady?s cheek, for example, being contoured in black. Very few contemporaries knew Toutin?s secret. Among those who did were his two sons, Henry and Jean II, and Isaac Gribelin. (1618-1683), who was probably a pupil of Henry Toutin.