Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
18ct lever minute repeating hunter pocket watch by Vine & Thompson, London, hallmarked London 1896
- Maker / attribution
- Vine & Thompson (maker)
- Date
- 1896 (hallmarked London)
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Dimensions
- Diameter 52 mm
- Auction house
- Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham
- Lot
- Sale 11, lot 356
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 356, The Watch Auction, Gardiner Houlgate (21st October 2020)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Vine & Thompson, London - 18ct lever minute repeating hunter pocket watch, London 1896, the gilt three-quarter plate movement signed Vine & Thompson, 85 Aldersgate Street, London, no. 3316, with compe (English)
View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham (lot Sale 11, lot 356), this is a pocket watch by Vine & Thompson, made in London, England, dated 1896 (hallmarked London). The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Pocket Watches collection. Recorded dimensions: Diameter 52 mm. The record is illustrated with 1 photograph.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Lot description — Gardiner Houlgate
Vine & Thompson, London - 18ct lever minute repeating hunter pocket watch, London 1896, the gilt three-quarter plate movement signed Vine & Thompson, 85 Aldersgate Street, London, no. 3316, with compensated balance, regulator and hammer striking a gong, enamel dial with Roman numerals, minute track, and subsidiary seconds, blued steel hands, the case engraved with a unicorn and Latin inscription 'DUM.VIVIMUS.VIVAMUS' (While We Live, Let Us Live), case maker 'F.T' (Fred Thoms), 142.4gm, 52mm - ** with 'Clock and Watch Registration Form' from The Antiquarian Horological Society dated 13/7/1992
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Machine production with interchangeable parts, pioneered by Waltham (1850s) and adopted by Elgin, Longines, Omega and others, made reliable lever watches widely affordable. Keyless winding became standard, railroad watch standards were introduced (1890s), and Swiss and American industries competed globally.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific Horology
Atlas type guide
Repeating watches
Before electric light, telling the time in the dark was a real problem. Repeating watches strike the time on demand when a slide or push-piece is operated: quarter repeaters sound hours and quarters, minute repeaters hours, quarters and minutes. Edward Barlow and Daniel Quare disputed the invention in London in the 1680s. Early repeaters struck on a bell inside the case; Abraham-Louis Breguet introduced the gong (a coiled steel wire) around 1780, allowing thinner watches.
Repeaters require a separate train with racks, snails and a governor to control the striking speed, and are among the most demanding complications to make and adjust. Swiss makers of the Vallée de Joux specialised in repeating ébauches in the nineteenth century.
What to look for
- A slide on the case band or a push-piece through the pendant.
- Gongs encircling the movement (after c. 1780) or a bell in the case (earlier); pierced case for sound.
- The racks, snails and governor visible under the dial or on the movement.
- Terms such as 'Minutes', 'Quarts' or 'Répétition' on the dial or cuvette.
Dating clues
- Bell-striking quarter repeaters: c. 1690–1800.
- Gong repeaters and dumb repeaters (striking on the case): after c. 1780.
- Minute repeaters became more common after c. 1830 with Vallée de Joux ébauches.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Read next:Minute repeater
Related records
Pocket Watches · 1835–1875
Pocket watch by Cornelius Brooks Holliday, England, 1835–1875
Science Museum Group, London
Pocket Watches · c. 1849–50
Watch by Edward Prior, England, c. 1849–50
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Pocket Watches · 1850-1862; hallmarked 1862
Cylinder watch in silver case by Jno. R. Arnold, London, no.3636, compensated curb, hall marked 1862
Science Museum Group, London
Pocket Watches · hallmarked 1860; 1850-1890
Cylinder watch in silver case, calendar, balance under dial, R.Q., in case. Hall marked 1860
Science Museum Group, London
Pocket Watches · 1850
Gold half-hunter pocket watch presented to William Lloyd Garrison, England, 1850
National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
Pocket Watches · 1850–1860
Sterling silver lever pocket watch in original case, made by Thomas & John Ollivant, Manchester, around 1851.
Science Museum Group, London
Pocket Watches · 1850
Watch movement with pumping keyless winding mechanism, by G. Waterhouse, London, England, 1845-1851.
Science Museum Group, London
Pocket Watches · 1851
Pocket watch by Alexander Watkins, England, 1851
Science Museum Group, London