Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
George III ornate silver verge pair cased pocket watch made for the Turkish market by Edward Prior, hallmarked London 1813
- Maker / attribution
- Edward Prior (maker)
- Date
- 1813 (hallmarked London)
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Materials / technique
- silver
- Dimensions
- Diameter 66 mm
- Auction house
- Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham
- Lot
- Sale 7, lot 186
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 186, The Watch Auction, Gardiner Houlgate (24th February 2021)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Edward Prior - George III ornate silver verge pair cased pocket watch made for the Turkish market, London 1813, the movement signed Geo (George) Prior, London, no. 38208, with pierced engraved balance (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by Gardiner Houlgate (auction house), Corsham (lot Sale 7, lot 186), this is a pocket watch by Edward Prior, made in England, dated 1813 (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: silver. Recorded dimensions: Diameter 66 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
Edward Prior - George III ornate silver verge pair cased pocket watch made for the Turkish market, London 1813, the movement signed Geo (George) Prior, London, no. 38208, with pierced engraved balance cock with urn, flat steel three arm balance, silvered regulating disc and ornate pillars, the enamel dial signed Edward Prior, London with Turkish numerals and minute track, fleur-de-lys hands, within a plain inner case and ornate white metal repousse outer case with hinged back and slide latch, inner case maker 'IR' (James Richards), 66mm, key - ** Edward Prior was a London watchmaker, specialising in watches for Turkey and the Ottoman Empire. He worked between 1800 and 1868
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
Verge and pair-cased watches
After Christiaan Huygens and Robert Hooke applied the balance spring around 1675, the verge watch became a reasonably reliable timekeeper and the minute hand became standard. Through the eighteenth century the typical English watch was a pair-cased verge: a fusee movement with a pierced, engraved balance cock, housed in an inner case and a separate protective outer case, often of repoussé gold, shagreen, tortoiseshell or enamel.
French watches of the same period were thicker 'oignons', later replaced by elegant thinner watches following Jean-Antoine Lépine's bar-bridge calibre of c. 1770. Dutch, Swiss and German makers supplied international markets, and verge watches were made until the mid-nineteenth century as cheaper alternatives to the cylinder and lever.
What to look for
- The pierced balance cock on the backplate: winged (continental) or with a foot (English); its style dates the watch.
- Fusee and chain visible through the movement; key winding through the dial (early) or case back.
- Hallmarks inside English silver or gold cases, which give a date letter.
- Maker's name and serial number engraved on the backplate; watch papers inside outer cases.
- Enamel dials (after c. 1720) versus earlier champlevé metal dials.
Dating clues
- Champlevé dials: c. 1680–1730; white enamel dials thereafter.
- English case hallmarks give the year of assay to within a year.
- Verge watches persisted in cheap production until c. 1850.
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.
Related records
Pocket Watches · 19th century
Watch by Edward Prior, England, 19th century
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Pocket Watches · c. 1849–50
Watch by Edward Prior, England, c. 1849–50
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Pocket Watches · c. 1845
Edward Prior pocket watch, circa 1845
Antiquorum auction archive, Geneva
Pocket Watches · 1832 (hallmarked London)
William IV silver verge pair cased pocket watch made for the Turkish Market by Edward Prior, hallmarked London 1832
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Pocket Watches · c. 1740–60
Watch by Charles Cabrier II, England, c. 1740–60 (The Met 17.190.1458)
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Pocket Watches · c. 1740–60
Watch by Charles Cabrier II, England, c. 1740–60 (The Met 17.190.1461)
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Pocket Watches · c. 1751–52
Watch by John Rich, England, c. 1751–52
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Pocket Watches · c. 1753
Gold watch, signed 'Jno. Ellicott, London, 3719', the inner case pierced and engraved, with a casemaker's mark 'JB', London, about 1753
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