Silver pair-cased verge watch with date indicator

Description — British Museum

Movement frame: Circular gilt-brass plates with four pierced Egyptian pillars. A hole in the pillar-plate for the potence. Mainspring & set-up: Gilt-brass barrel with dovetailed cap and riveted steel hook. Tangent-screw set-up on the potence plate, the worm gear between two cut steel brackets. Silver index disc engraved 1-8. Indicator missing. Fusee & stop-work: Gilt-brass fusee with gut line and English stop-work, the spring with a decoratively shaped foot. Train: Gilt-brass train of three wheels, the second and contrate wheels each with a domed collet and three crossings. Train-count: Gt wheel 60 (with pinion of 6 to motion work). 2nd wheel 50/5 Contrate wheel 44/5 Escape wheel 15/5. Escapement & balance: Verge escapement, the crown wheel runs between riveted potence and counter-potence, each with hatched decoration on the visible side. The verge and two arm steel balance are not original. Pierced and engraved foliate balance cock pinned to a stud on the potence-plate. DIAL: Gilt-brass dial with an outer engraved border surrounding a fixed silver calendar ring engraved 1-31. Within this a rotating gilt-brass ring carries a pointer to show the date. In the middle a fixed silver dial with Roman hours, I-XII, fleur-de-lys half-hour marks, and a quarter circle. The centre of the dial is pierced and engraved with realistic flowers over a matted gilt-brass ground. Blued-steel hand. The dial is hinged at XII and there are four lugs which engage in recesses in the case band. Case catch and spring screwed to the inside of the pillar-plate. Cases: Plain silver inner case with a hinged, glazed lid and a rotating cover for the winding hole. Silver pendant, the loose ring now missing. Outer case of leather covered brass with silver rims and silver piqué decoration.