Pocket Watches · Pocket watch
Pocket Watch - J. McCabe, London, Presented to Captain Enright, Clipper Ship Lightning, 1857
- Maker / attribution
- Mr James McCabe (Maker)
- Date
- 1856
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Pocket watch
- Holding institution
- Museums Victoria, Melbourne
- Accession / object no.
- HT 1118.1
- Credit line
- Purchased with funding from the Askew Bequest.
- Catalogue title (original)
- Pocket Watch - J. McCabe, London, Presented to Captain Enright, Clipper Ship Lightning, 1857 (English)
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Record summary
Held and catalogued by Museums Victoria, Melbourne (object number HT 1118.1), this is a pocket watch by Mr James McCabe, made in England, dated 1856. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) 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
Summary — Museums Victoria
Gold gents pocket watch made by Ja. McCabe, Royal Exchange, London in 1856. It was presented to Captain Enright of the Lightning sailing ship by the saloon passengers on his 4th voyage from Liverpool to Melbourne in 1857.
Physical description — Museums Victoria
Case and dial. Single 18 ct gold case embossed with repetitive patterm. White enamel dial has painted black roman numerals with gold hands. Seconds dial at 6.00 with gold hand. Signed dial and movement. Diamond end stone to balance, Has fusee. Key wound gents pocket watch. Winding key.
Inscriptions & marks
Face, black " JA.s M.cCABE/ Royal Exchange/ LONDON/ 01203" Inside front case, stamped, "AS" in oval; "01203" [upside down]; "LMC"; [upside down]; "a" in square, triangle and "18" in square = London hallmark for 1856. Back of watch, engraved illustration of sixteen sail sailing ship on calm sea, with seagulls, clouds and another sailing ship in the distance. Below this "Presented to Capt. Enright. / OF THE LIGHTNING,/ by the Saloon Passengers on his 4th voyage/ FROM LIVERPOOL TO MELBOURNE/ Feb.y 5.th to April 15.th 1857./ as a slight token of their RESPECT & REGARD. [LINE UNDERNEATH] " Inside back case, stamped, "AS" in oval; "01203" [upside down]; "LMC"; [upside down]; [4 hallmarks to be checked].
Provenance
Purchase
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Machine production with interchangeable parts, pioneered by Waltham (1850s) and adopted by Elgin, Longines, Omega and others, made reliable lever watches widely affordable. Keyless winding became standard, railroad watch standards were introduced (1890s), and Swiss and American industries competed globally.
Read the period in the timelineMore pocket watches from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific 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 escapementIdentification Centre
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