LITHERLAND, DAVIES & Co, Liverpool. No 9609
Early ‘PATENT LEVER DETACHED’ movement with rare Massey type-5 roller, circa 1820, from the Alan Treherne collection.
£45.00
Smaller than normal fullplate fusee movement, never capped nor fitted with maintaining power. Massey detached lever escapement with 30-tooth escape wheel and type-5 roller, the earliest of Massey’s to be jewelled (see note below), the typically early straight-sided lever being short and the pallets looking to have no draw. Steel balance, spiral balance-spring. 39 mm diameter.
The firm of Peter Litherland, Mount Pleasant, Liverpool. known for their invention of the rack-lever escapement but also one of the first watch manufacturers to fit the new detached lever escapements designed and patented by Edward J Massey.
Edward J Massey, Newcastle, Coventry and Liverpool, escapement manufacturer and Patentee of the first extensively used detached lever escapements. First identified and catalogued by Alan Treherne, the various types being designated from 1 to 5. Types-I and -5 are the earliest and least common, followed by type-2 and then type-3. Type-4 is a seconds beating-variant, usually fitted with a type-3 roller, and is very rare.
NB: Alan designated the various Massey escapements numbers in the order he identified them. They are not an indication of which came first. Over the years it has become clear that the steel roller, type-1, was the earliest to be used, apart that is, from the very first form shown in his 1812 Patent application. At some point around 1820 Massey started to offer jewelled rollers, the type-5 being the earliest. This was followed by the type-2 roller, which itself was soon followed by type-3, the most common. Of all the rollers the type-5, a form of double-roller as shown in Massey’s 1813 Patent, is certainly the most difficult to find.
Lacking brass-edge, dial, motion-work and top balance jeweling, but still an interesting example of this Massey escapement, and probably one of the earliest jewelled rollers to be fitted.
Item reserved
Description
Smaller than normal fullplate fusee movement, never capped nor fitted with maintaining power. Massey detached lever escapement with 30-tooth escape wheel and type-5 roller, the earliest of Massey’s to be jewelled (see note below), the typically early straight-sided lever being short and the pallets looking to have no draw. Steel balance, spiral balance-spring. 39 mm diameter.
The firm of Peter Litherland, Mount Pleasant, Liverpool. known for their invention of the rack-lever escapement but also one of the first watch manufacturers to fit the new detached lever escapements designed and patented by Edward J Massey.
Edward J Massey, Newcastle, Coventry and Liverpool, escapement manufacturer and Patentee of the first extensively used detached lever escapements. First identified and catalogued by Alan Treherne, the various types being designated from 1 to 5. Types-I and -5 are the earliest and least common, followed by type-2 and then type-3. Type-4 is a seconds beating-variant, usually fitted with a type-3 roller, and is very rare.
NB: Alan designated the various Massey escapements numbers in the order he identified them. They are not an indication of which came first. Over the years it has become clear that the steel roller, type-1, was the earliest to be used, apart that is, from the very first form shown in his 1812 Patent application. At some point around 1820 Massey started to offer jewelled rollers, the type-5 being the earliest. This was followed by the type-2 roller, which itself was soon followed by type-3, the most common. Of all the rollers the type-5, a form of double-roller as shown in Massey’s 1813 Patent, is certainly the most difficult to find.
Lacking brass-edge, dial, motion-work and top balance jeweling, but still an interesting example of this Massey escapement, and probably one of the earliest jewelled rollers to be fitted.
