Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Pocket watch by London Wilders, England, 1784
- Maker / attribution
- London Wilders (creator)
- Date
- 1784
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Holding institution
- City Museum Zutphen
- Accession / object no.
- resource_document_collectiegelderland_222R2Z3R2XOGFFRYVNTTYS2STFL6X5FMSZUVQNGM3GVX7Y33WLKA
- Catalogue title (original)
- Heren zakhorloge (Dutch)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by City Museum Zutphen (object number resource_document_collectiegelderland_222R2Z3R2XOGFFRYVNTTYS2STFL6X5FMSZUVQNGM3GVX7Y33WLKA), this is a pocket watch by London Wilders, made in England, dated 1784. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Pocket Watches collection. 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
Catalogue description from City Museum Zutphen (Dutch)
Engels heren zakhorloge uit 1784 met uurwerk van Zwitserse makelij (waarschijnlijk bestemd voor de Hollandse markt), signatuur 'Wilders, London'. Kast van gedreven en geciseleerd zilver met een voorstelling van drie figuren en een paard, afgezet met een sierrand bestaande uit C-motieven. De binnenkast is eveneens van gedreven en gedraaid zilver. De wijzerplaat is gemaakt van wit emaille met zwart Romeinse uurcijfers en Arabische vijf minuutcijfers met minuutboogjes. In de spiegel van de wijzerplaat bevindt zich een in emaille geschilderde voorstelling van een havengezicht met twee mannetjes op een brug. De wijzers zijn van gestanst messing en verguld. Het uurwerk is van messing en staal met vergulde platines en kloven, versierd met bladrankmotieven. Op de achterplatine bevindt zich een zilveren kompasschijfje voor de gangregulatie van de balans. Het horloge geeft alleen de minuten en uren aan, wordt opgewonden met een sleuteltje aan de achterzijde en loopt één dag. De wijzers van het horloge worden gelijk gezet aan de voorzijde.
Shown in the original language of the source catalogue. An editor-reviewed English translation has not yet been published; we do not publish machine translations as authoritative text.
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.
Read next:Verge escapementDetached lever escapementFuseeIdentification Centre
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