S WATSON, London
Fine early 18th century verge by this rare maker, one time “Mathematician in Ordinary to His Majesty’ Charles II.
£3,995.00
Large silver paircase, the inner with loose ring pendant and split bezel, both cases with the same hallmarks but rubbed, the outer with old and now rather tatty silk watchpaper/token. Fullplate fusee movement with lovely tulip pillars, the cock symmetrically pierced and engraved. Verge (recoil) escapement. Steel balance, spiral balance-spring. Two-piece silver champleve dial with bold name cartouche in the centre, original gilded beetle & poker hands, and correct high-dome glass. 55 mm diameter.
Samuel Watson, Coventry, moving to London around 1691. Maker (designer?) of complicated astronomical clocks, one still at Windsor Castle and another, a most important table clock, for Sir Isaac Newton. This is now in the Clockmakers’ Company Collection and on show at London’s Science Museum. A few watches are known, most signed from London, and were presumably made and finished to Watson’s order.
NB: This type of watch, with its ‘pendulum spring,’ as developed so successfully in London by Thomas Tompion and others at the end of the 17th century, became the standard by which watch buyers worldwide wanted to own. It gave English watches, particularly London watches, a deserved reputation that lasted for most of the next two hundred years. However, it also spawned tens of thousands of inferior German and Swiss copies, most of which carried ‘LONDON” as their place of manufacture, many survivors of which are still being offered for sale as English made, even today!
This watch shows some signs of wear but is among the most original of its type I have handled. The pendant and bow still revolve and look never to have been replaced, the cock has not been later disfigured by changes to the banking, and the nicely detailed hands are lovely. The canon-pinion is still pinned to the centre arbor and has never been filed short, as have most watches of this age – over 300 years old. Serviced and guaranteed.
Item reserved
Description
Large silver paircase, the inner with loose ring pendant and split bezel, both cases with the same hallmarks but rubbed, the outer with old and now rather tatty silk watchpaper/token. Fullplate fusee movement with lovely tulip pillars, the cock symmetrically pierced and engraved. Verge (recoil) escapement. Steel balance, spiral balance-spring. Two-piece silver champleve dial with bold name cartouche in the centre, original gilded beetle & poker hands, and correct high-dome glass. 55 mm diameter.
Samuel Watson, Coventry, moving to London around 1691. Maker (designer?) of complicated astronomical clocks, one still at Windsor Castle and another, a most important table clock, for Sir Isaac Newton. This is now in the Clockmakers’ Company Collection and on show at London’s Science Museum. A few watches are known, most signed from London, and were presumably made and finished to Watson’s order.
NB: This type of watch, with its ‘pendulum spring,’ as developed so successfully in London by Thomas Tompion and others at the end of the 17th century, became the standard by which watch buyers worldwide wanted to own. It gave English watches, particularly London watches, a deserved reputation that lasted for most of the next two hundred years. However, it also spawned tens of thousands of inferior German and Swiss copies, most of which carried ‘LONDON” as their place of manufacture, many survivors of which are still being offered for sale as English made, even today!
This watch shows some signs of wear but is among the most original of its type I have handled. The pendant and bow still revolve and look never to have been replaced, the cock has not been later disfigured by changes to the banking, and the nicely detailed hands are lovely. The canon-pinion is still pinned to the centre arbor and has never been filed short, as have most watches of this age – over 300 years old. Serviced and guaranteed.