Featured A fine verge pocket watch

Early 19th C verge escapement pocket watches are not uncommon although good basic examples tend to start at around $200 now.

Anything unusual tends to be much more expensive. We rarely see any watches here on the forum so here is a nice one to get on with. It is unusual in having a calendar dial with separate registers for seconds, minutes, hours and days of the month. This involves some unusual variations in movement design so they are fairly rare and usually all differ in detail according to the whim of the individual maker.

Cased in a gilt metal case, there is no hallmark to give a precise date but most probably this one dates from 1800 to 1810. It has a pair case, an outer and an inner case. It is still in good working order.



Movements usually have a dust cover. Typically, just the balance cock is showing.



Removing the cover by sliding the clip, the whole of the backplate is revealed.



and usually the maker's name.


Almost certainly Phineas Daniel. The outer case often included a watch paper or two to ensure a snug fit; this one has one advertising watch paper, one seems to be a goodwill message, and a pressed silver foil 'St. Christopher' to protect the wearer.





Sometimes you can find a full service history in the back of a pair cased watch as each time the watch was serviced, a watchpaper with the date and sometimes the cost of the service would be added.

 

WOW! That is all great!
Thank you!

 

This guy , who's house you were fortunate enough to dig out......seems like he would have been an outstanding addition to this site !!

It's nice to go through his belongings with you.......because of you !

Just sayin...

 

Afantiques, please don't get me wrong on my next question(s) because I do appreciate the beauty and age and history of the watch in and of itself but . . .

I am most intrigued by the "Queen Caroline's wish" card which was in the watch case.

Do you think Queen Caroline personally presented the watch to a specific recipient and it was she (or her personal staff) who placed the "Queen Caroline's wish" card in the watch?

Or do you think that the card was placed in the watch by an owner/neutral third party who found the card at a later date and placed it inside the watch merely for safekeeping?

Just curious because of Queen Caroline's "history" back in the day.

 

Ha....it looks like those watch types needed their own secretary !!

 

I'm pretty sure the wish thing is just a normal made by the thousand watch paper. I have not actually read it,if it is satirical it would match the mood of the period.

 

I wondered about the possible "satirical" side to the paper myself.

 

If it was ribald it would fit even more, opinions of the Queen being what they were.

 

I will try to get a readable image.