During the second quarter of the 17th century, magnificent rock crystal watches of various shapes were created. The present shape is extremely rare; only a few similar watches are known. One, formerly in the Prince Soltykoff Collection and now in the Louvre Museum, was made by Conradt Kreizer, and has a similar mechanism with hour striking, as does the present watch. The cases and the dials are strikingly similar, the movement differs only in its details.Another watch in the same shape, also in the Louvre, was made by Louis Vautier from Blois. Although the shape of the case is the same, with four triangular points on the band, the movement differs in construction, having certain characteristics typical of French watches, such as the fusee being cut for a gut. The Kreizer (also Kreiser) Family. The Kreizer family was a veritable dynasty of watchmakers, with at least four individuals apparently bearing the same Christian name. Some uncertainty exists as to whether Conrad III and IV were not in fact the same person, but certainly one of the Kreizer's occupied the position of clockmaker to the Knights of the Grand Cross of Malta and indeed several watches signed by Kreizer use their characteristic cross as the form for the pendant. The watch now offered for sale, with its four triangular points on the case, shows the characteristics of the Kreizer's unusual cross or 4-arm star pattern. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a watch by him in the form of a cross. Another one, in an octagonal case with eight pronounced lobes, was sold by Antiquorum in October 1995, lot 841.