AMELI SABI BULUGAT
Galata, Constantinople
Mid-17th century
Single-hand oval watch in nielloed and damascened silver, set with pearls, pre-balance spring, made for the Ottoman Empire market
Western-shaped oval silver case with hinged cover over the dial, entirely nielloed with stylized geometric flowers and foliage, pendant with ring
Single-hand dial with Turkish numerals, stylized baluster-shaped hand, stylized indications for the quarter and half hours, the back decorated with damascened arabesques, the circle for the hour indication with raised pearl settings
Mechanical movement with key winding, the plate entirely nielloed and engraved with scrolling foliage, verge escapement, gilded plate with pearl-set pillars, chased and pierced cock fixed on a foot, fusee and chain, simple steel balance, adjustment disc with Turkish numerals, Islamic inscription in a lobed cartouche
Dim. 44 x 51 mm
Gross weight. 105.2 g
Our example is among the earliest known locally made watches for the court of the Ottoman Sultans in Constantinople, a rare example of a pre-balanced spiral watch that is typical of the manufactures of the first half of the 17th century.
With this extensive niello and damascene decoration, this intriguing oval watch with a pearl setting on the dial and movement is
built in the manner of a Western watch, but is locally made in the city of Galata.
The shape of the case, dial and movement have been given an oriental touch that is distinguished by this arabesque decoration,
leaving no doubt that the maker must have been one of the best Turkish watchmakers native to Galata.
The great similarity between the movement of this watch and the movement of a wall clock in the Topkapi Museum by Bulugat shows that it was made by the same hand.
Although clocks and watches are known to have existed in the courts of the Ottoman sultans, in and around the Ottoman capital as early as the 16th century, very few are known to have survived to the present day, such as our example.
The Ottoman Fascination with the Great European Powers
As the Habsburg ambassador to Constantinople wrote in 1555: “There is no city more magnificent or better adapted to trade than Constantinople.”
The Ottoman Empire had been in contact with European powers for centuries, and in the late 17th and 18th centuries, Western innovations in watchmaking, particularly from France, Switzerland, and England, began to make their way into Ottoman society.
The sultan and the elite classes were fascinated by mechanical watches, and watches quickly became both functional tools and luxury items within the empire.
If trade was flourishing at the time, it was through the French embassy that the first Swiss timepieces would appear on the Ottoman market. The Swiss having obtained special privileges following the treaty signed by Francis I in Fribourg in 1516, they settled very quickly to make the art of watchmaking prosper.
Indeed, the city of Constantinople has fascinated the West for centuries, but if we know of a few rare examples of watches manufactured
in Europe for the market of the Ottoman Empire, notably with Islamic calendars, few are known to this day as being from the hands of local watchmakers.
The first colonies of European watchmakers at the service of the Seraglio.
The first Western clockmakers who settled in Galata at the end of the
16th century were sent to maintain and repair the clocks that had been offered as diplomatic gifts to Sultan Murad
III (1546-1595), who was particularly fascinated by mechanical clocks.
The famous diamond merchant Jean Baptiste Tavernier, who visited Constantinople in 1630, reported the existence of clockmakers working in the palace treasury, which indicates the importance of this community to the sultans and the court of the time.
By the end of the 17th century, there were already nearly a hundred members of the clockmakers' guild on site, including the ancestor of the famous philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, Jean Rousseau, a specialist in repairs who would be appointed Time Adjuster at the Topkapi Palace.
The first colony of Genevan clockmakers settled in Galata.
Galata watches refer to watches produced during the Ottoman Empire, this historic district located on the northern bank
of the Golden Horn, was a center of commercial activity, attracting European merchants, artisans and craftsmen.
Galata, a historic district located on the northern bank of the Golden Horn, was a center of commercial activity, attracting European merchants and artisans. During the Ottoman period, watchmaking in the empire had close ties to local crafts and European watchmaking traditions.
Watchmakers in the Galata District
The Galata district of Constantinople was home to many European artisans, including watchmakers who catered to the Ottoman elite. Many of these artisans were Greek, Armenian and Jewish, and they played an important role in establishing this market, particularly Galata, as the watchmaking center of the region.
During the Ottoman period, watchmaking in the empire had close ties to local crafts and European watchmaking traditions. The Galata suburb of Constantinople (Istanbul) had become an established colony of foreign as well as local goldsmiths, watchmakers and engravers.
Little is known about Turkish watchmakers of this period, but some of them are known by name from the signatures found on surviving watches, including: Bulugat, Sabin, Abdurrahman, Seyh Dede, Mehmed Su Liku, Terjuman Oglu and Mustafa Aksarayi.
By the mid-18th century, up to 160 people of several nationalities lived in Galata, including French, Genoese, Italians, Swiss and Germans. They were known as the “Galatakari”.
Museum Collections
A wall clock signed by Bulugat is in the collections of the Topkapı Palace Museum in Istanbul (Inv. 53.86), the finishing and decoration of the movement bears a great similarity to the present watch.
Another watch signed by a Galata clockmaker, Arlo (Arlaud), Galata, is in the famous collection of Sir David Salomons, L. A. Mayer Memorial Institute for Islamic Art, Jerusalem.
Another watch from the mid-17th century is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, gift from the former collection of the famous banker J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917, (Inv. 17.190.1560).
Literature: Watches and Clocks from the Sir David Salomons Collection, George Daniels and Ohannes Markarian, 1983, p. 110.
European Clocks and Watches in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Clare Vincent, Jan Hendrik Leopold, Elizabeth Sullivan.
Catalogue of Clocks and Watches in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum, Wolfgang Meyer.
