Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
English Gold and Enamel Chatelaine Watch, circa 1780
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1780
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- gold, enamel
- Stock no.
- A10819
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Pieces of Time (A10819)
- Catalogue title (original)
- English Gold and Enamel Chatelaine Watch (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Pieces of Time (dealer), London (stock number A10819), this is a pocket watch, dated c. 1780. 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, enamel. The record is illustrated with 6 photographs.
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
Dealer description — Pieces of Time
A late 18 th Century English verge in a gold and enamel consular case with matching chatelaine. Full plate fire gilt fusee movement with round pillars. Pierced and engraved cock, silver regulator disc. Plain three arm steel balance, blue steel spiral hairspring. Winding through the fully restored white enamel dial, Roman and Arabic numerals, gold beetle and poker hands. Gold and enamel consular case, bezels decorated in blue enamel with a row of white enamel dots to imitate split pearls. The back with a restored oval cartouche painted “en grisaille” depicting the huntress Diana and Cupid. The cartouche bordered by a row of white enamel dots and translucent green enamel over an engine turned ground. Fine matching chatelaine, the gilt clip faced with gold and champleve enamel., the large oval cartouche similar to that of the watch depicting Greek muse Erato and cupid. Border of blue and white champleve enamel and below seven eyelets in a green enamel scollop shaped extension. Three gold and enamel chains support a smaller gold cartouche decoration matching that of the clip, gold spring clip with threaded safety collar for the watch. Four shorter chains, each with one gold and enamel link and a hinged gold spring clip with threaded safety collar. Small gold flask enamelled “en grisaille” on both sides with a small cameo. One clip vacant, lacking the cover to the spring. The other two chains with a gilt key and small carved heart shaped stone. Later black morocco covered presentation case lined with red velvet.
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
Pocket watches
The pocket watch was the dominant personal timekeeper from the late seventeenth century until the First World War. Its development tracks the history of the escapement: verge watches with fusees until the late eighteenth century; Thomas Mudge's lever escapement (c. 1755) and the cylinder escapement popularised by George Graham and later by Swiss makers; and the Swiss and English lever watches of the nineteenth century. Lépine's bar-bridge calibre and keyless winding made watches thinner and easier to use.
Industrialisation transformed the trade: American factories such as Waltham (from 1850) and Elgin produced interchangeable parts by machine, and Swiss makers responded with their own mechanisation after the 1876 Philadelphia Exhibition. By 1900 a reliable watch was affordable to millions; the finest makers continued to produce complications and precision watches.
What to look for
- The escapement: verge (crown wheel), cylinder, duplex, English or Swiss lever.
- Key winding (a square arbor in dial or back) or keyless crown winding.
- Signatures and serial numbers on the movement, dial and inside case back.
- Hallmarks, case maker's marks and gold or silver standards stamped in the case.
- Dial material: enamel, silver, gold, later printed metal.
Dating clues
- Verge watches dominate before c. 1800; cylinder watches c. 1770–1900; lever watches after c. 1820.
- Keyless winding: increasingly common after c. 1860.
- Manufacturer serial number lists exist for Waltham, Elgin, Longines, Omega, Patek Philippe and others.
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.
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