(Paul Revere / Horology / Revolutionary War Era) (REVERE, Paul) engraver. Engraved Watch Paper for A[aron] Willard, Watch & Clock Maker, Boston.
Boston, 1781. Circular watch paper measuring 2" in diameter. A premier museum-grade artifact of early American ephemera and horological history, consisting of an original circular paper insert designed to sit protectively inside the concave back of a pocket watch. The engraved face features a complex allegorical composition showing an angel blowing a horn at the top, a tree branch, a pocket watch, Father Time, a rooster, and a central advertising cartouche reading "A. Willard / Watch & Clock / Maker / Boston." The outer edge retains its six original radiating slits used to contour the flat paper into a watch case. The verso features an invaluable contemporary manuscript record written in dark ink: "Enos Clap. Clean'd. $1.00. March 10, 1832;" tracking its actual historical placement and service history over half a century after its printing.
The physical condition of the item is graded VERY GOOD (utilizing the standard antiquarian book grading scale for works on paper). The paper presents honest signs of age and functional use within a timepiece, including overall light browning and one small dark stain to the front surface. The engraved lines remain clear and sharp, and the paper matrix is structurally sound with no significant loss or tearing to the delicate edges.
Paul Revere's Horological Engravings and the Willard Dynasty
This extraordinary artifact captures a direct, documented commercial intersection between two of the most celebrated figures in early American craftsmanship: silversmith and Revolutionary patriot Paul Revere (1735–1818), and legendary Boston clockmaker Aaron Willard. Originally conceived as a utilitarian barrier to prevent dust from entering a watch mechanism, watch papers evolved into highly sophisticated miniature advertising mediums. Revere’s personal shop ledger, the Revere Day Book, contains a definitive entry in July 1781 specifically charging Aaron's brother, Simon Willard, six shillings for 100 prints intended for "Your Br Aron for Watches." Revere's distinctive iconography—merging the traditional figure of Father Time with a rooster symbol of vigilance and an angel of fame—embodies the unique graphic language of the nascent American republic, bridging fine copperplate engraving with commercial utility.
Series Bibliography, Census, and Market Scarcity
The survival rate of 18th-century watch papers is infinitesimally low due to their fragile paper composition and their regular destruction or replacement during routine watch servicing. This specific Aaron Willard issue was considered entirely lost to history for over a century until a single specimen was tracked down in 1935 and ultimately gifted to the American Antiquarian Society in 1948. A current global sweep of the OCLC/WorldCat database locates a total of only 3 specimens preserved in institutional special collections worldwide: all of which reside permanently within the Paul Revere Collection at the American Antiquarian Society. This represents an extraordinarily rare opportunity for private collectors, offering a chance to acquire a legendary Revere printing that is virtually unobtainable outside of permanent museum archives. Bibliographically documented in Clarence S. Brigham’s definitive text, Paul Revere's Engravings (1954, pp. 122-123).
THIS EXCEEDINGLY RARE 1781 WATCH PAPER, ENGRAVED BY THE HAND OF PAUL REVERE AND DOCUMENTING THE COMING TOGETHER OF EARLY AMERICA'S FOREMOST ARTISAN AND HOROLOGIST, REPRESENTS A CRITICAL ACQUISITION FOR INSTITUTIONAL SPECIAL COLLECTIONS OR EXTRAORDINARY PRIVATE COLLECTIONS DEVOTED TO THE HISTORY OF THE ENGRAVINGS OF PAUL REVERE, AMERICAN HOROLOGY, OR REVOLUTIONARY WAR ERA EPHEMERA.
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