Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
18ct rose gold plunge quarter repeating pocket watch by Grant, London, hallmarked London 1808
- Maker / attribution
- Grant (maker)
- Date
- 1808 (hallmarked London)
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Place
- London
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- gold
- Dimensions
- Diameter 46 mm
- Auction house
- Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham
- Lot
- Sale 50, lot 60
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 60, The Collection of the Late Fred Crampton - PART I, Gardiner Houlgate (20th May 2024)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Grant, Fleet Street, London - 18ct rose gold plunge quarter repeating pocket watch, London 1808, signed fusee movement, no. 3250, sprung three-arm flat steel balance, engraved balance cock with regula (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham (lot Sale 50, lot 60), this is a pocket watch by Grant, made in London, England, dated 1808 (hallmarked London). The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Pocket Watches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: gold. Recorded dimensions: Diameter 46 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
Grant, Fleet Street, London - 18ct rose gold plunge quarter repeating pocket watch, London 1808, signed fusee movement, no. 3250, sprung three-arm flat steel balance, engraved balance cock with regulator and cabouchon ruby endstone, signed gilt cuvette, signed enamel dial with Roman numerals, outer minute track and subsidiary seconds dial, gold hands, consular case, no. 752, case maker 'LC', 110gm, 46mm (the timepiece requires attention)
Historical context
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Harrison solves longitude; Mudge invents the lever; Breguet's Paris workshop defines the modern watch.
From 1750 to 1850 the watch became a precision instrument. Mudge's lever escapement, the cylinder escapement, Lépine's thin bar calibre, Breguet's innovations (overcoil, tourbillon, perpétuelle) and the pocket chronometer of Arnold and Earnshaw all date from this period, while verge watches remained common in cheaper production.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Early Modern 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 repeaterMinute repeater
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