
Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Pocket watch by Markwick, England, 1719
- Maker / attribution
- Markwick (creator)
- Date
- 1719
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Holding institution
- Museum of City History Leipzig
- Accession / object no.
- Museu_ProvidedCHO_Stadtgeschichtliches_Museum_Leipzig_UH000045
- Catalogue title (original)
- pocket watch (English)
Record summary
Held and catalogued by Museum of City History Leipzig (object number Museu_ProvidedCHO_Stadtgeschichtliches_Museum_Leipzig_UH000045), this is a pocket watch by Markwick, made in England, dated 1719. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) 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 Museum of City History Leipzig (English)
Sign. Markwick, London, N 3261, case: silver, smooth, stamp “CAT,” three crowns, vers. Repair marks, overbody covered with tortoiseshell, dial: white enamel with radial arab. and Roman. Numbers, gilded ornamental pointer, work: fire-gilded spindle with chain and snail, silver plundered spindle studs with foliate and mascaron engraved in the foot, Dutch pillars, snail protection; key missing
Historical context
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Huygens' pendulum and balance spring transform accuracy; English makers develop the anchor and deadbeat escapements.
The balance spring (c. 1675) improved watches dramatically and introduced the minute hand. English pair-cased verge watches with pierced balance cocks and French oignons were typical; enamel painting at Blois and Geneva, and the repeating watch (1680s), made watches objects of great refinement.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Renaissance Horology
Atlas type guide
Watches for the Chinese and Ottoman markets
From the late eighteenth century English and Swiss makers produced watches specifically for export to China and the Ottoman Empire. For China, Fleurier houses such as Bovet, Juvet and Vrard made matching pairs of watches with richly engraved and decorated movements, often with the duplex escapement whose centre seconds hand jumps in full seconds. For Ottoman buyers, London makers such as George Prior and Markwick Markham supplied verge watches with Turkish numerals in triple or quadruple cases of tortoiseshell and silver.
These watches reflect global trade networks and the tastes of distant markets, and are important evidence for cross-cultural exchange in horology.
What to look for
- Engraved, fully decorated movements visible under a glass back.
- Duplex escapement with a jumping centre seconds hand.
- Chinese characters on the movement (e.g. the maker's name in transliteration).
- Turkish (Ottoman) numerals on the dial and multiple protective outer cases.
Dating clues
- Chinese-market Fleurier watches: c. 1820–1900.
- English Ottoman-market watches: c. 1770–1850.
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.
Read next:Verge escapement
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