Gilt-brass cased verge coach watch with hour-striking

Description — British Museum

MOVEMENT Full-plate,; five baluster pillars one now missing; ratchet and click set-up; fusee with chain and English stop-work; four-wheel train. Verge escapement, steel 3-arm balance not original; later balance-spring. Originally with manually operated hog's bristle regulation but only the engraved scale on the plate remains. Striking train with nag's head release and count-wheel control. : DIAL Gilt-brass dial-plate with an engraved wheatear border. Applied silver dial with Roman hour numerals, I-XII, T-shaped half-hour marks and a quarter ring. In the centre an engraved scene depicting a castle? on a hill overlooking the sea with boats in the foreground and background. : Replacement gilt-brass hand. : CASE Massive gilt-brass case with a pierced colonnaded band. The back and lid with engraved wheat-ear borders and pierced with a series of 12 roundels linked by straps. The solid central panels are engraved with landscapes. Inside the case a very thick bell.

Curator's comments — British Museum

1. The movement of this watch has undergone some modification. The original bar-balance or wheel balance with hog's bristle regulation has been replaced by a steel 3-arm balance with spiral balance spring and geared regulation. : 2. The method of construction and the very stiff and stylised engraving suggest that the case is of 19th century manufacture. : 3. In common with the case, the dial also appears to be of 19th century date. : 4. No biographical details are known of a maker using the punched mark IS within four punched stars and no other pieces survive. : 5. See Jagger, Royal Clocks, p.242 for a watch IS in the Usher Collection Lincoln.