Rare George Graham Repeater Pocket Watch in Shagreen Case

A rare pair-cased gilt-metal repeater pocket watch, in shagreen…
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A rare pair-cased gilt-metal repeater pocket watch, in shagreen case, maker George Graham English circa 1720 4 cm diameter, 5.7 cm high, 5.5 cm case diameter. A rare pair-cased gilt-metal repeater pocket watch, in shagreen case, maker George Graham. English circa 1720. Gilt metal pair-cased watch, the inner box pierced and decorated with foliate designs and. animal heads, and a mask, the outer covered with green shagreen and holed at regular. intervals around the bezel and on the case to allow sound of the bell to be heard by the. wearer. Gold pinwork in a radial pattern to the shagreen on the back of the case. White enamel dial Roman hour numerals and outer Arabic minute numerals. Gold hands in. the continental style. Push-piece for the repeating mechanism protruding out of the top of the. pendant. fusee movement, plain cylindrical pillars, pierced table of cock with a mask and diamond. end-stone, chased foot. Key operated silver adjustment dial. Signed on the back plate "G. Graham, London, 646". There is a steel bell housed in the inner box on which the hammer of the repeating. mechanism strikes. Reference: Graham was apprenticed to Herny Aske for seven years in 1688. He was admitted a freeman of the Clockmakers Company on completing his indentures in 1695 and immediately entered the service of Thomas Tompion.In 1696 he married Tompion's niece, Elizabeth. He was. elected a fellow and went into partnership with Tompion until Tompion's death in 1713. Graham developed the cylinder escapement and after 1726 introduced it into all his watches. He invented the dead-beat escapement in 1715 and the mercury pendulum in 1726. Graham was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1721, and chosen as a member of the. council of that body in 1722; also in 1722 he became master of the Clockmakers Company. Provenance: Purchased by Edwin Dean from Lawrence Gould, in December 1971. Dimensions: 4 cm diameter, 5.7 cm high, 5.5 cm case diameter

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  • Pendulum - The pendulum was discovered around 1602 by Galileo Galilei, and was adopted for time keeping by the Dutch mathematician and natural philosopher, Christiaan Huygens, who excelled in astronomy, physics, and horology.

    The pendulum comprises a metal rod usually of brass or steel with a metal disk, known as a bob, at the end. The movement of the pendulum is driven by weights or a spring, and as a pendulum swings in a regular arc, it was found accuracy could be controlled to within a few seconds a week.

    Timekeeping can be adjusted by changing the height of the bob on the rod, making the pendulum either swing slower or faster.

    The disadvantage of the pendulum was that changes in temperature also changed the length of the pendulum, interfering with the accuracy of the clock, and so in the 18th century two types of mercurial pendulums were invented which countered the movement in the steel rod.

    The pendulum was the world's most accurate timekeeping technology until the invention of the quartz clock, regulated by a quartz crystal, in 1927.
  • Bezel - On a clock or watch, the bezel is the metal frame into which the watch or clock glass is fitted. In clocks, the bezel may include a hinge and a flange, in effect a door to the face of the clock. In jewellery the bezel is a band of metal with a projecting lip that holds the gemstone in its setting.
  • Fusee - The fusee movement was used in clocks and pocket watches from the mid 17th century. The fusee is a cone shaped drum within the works that is linked to the barrel of the spring, usually by a length of chain.

    As the mainspring loses its tension over time, the cone shaped barrel compensates for this by increasing the tension, by pulling the mainspring tighter, thus ensuring the time remains constant.

    Use of the fusee in clocks was superseded by the "going barrel" in the mid 19th century and for pocket watches at the beginning of the 19th century.

    The fusee continued to be used in marine chronometers until the 1970s.
  • Pair Cased - A pair cased watch is one with a double case. The movement is encased, and for additional protection this is fitted into an outer case.
  • Foliate - Decorated with leaves or leaf-like forms.
  • Shagreen - Shagreen is the untanned smoothly pebbled textured skins of rays, sharks or dogfish. In finishing, it is dyed, mostly green, but the colour often fades to a cream colour. Shagreen was a popular material in Europe during the Art Deco era, when designers sought to mould the French tradition of luxury with exotic and precious materials. Most collectable items made from shagreen are smaller objects, like glasses cases, dagger and sword hilts, dressing accessories, boxes and picture frames.
  • Back Plate - On many types of clocks, the movement operates between two plates, usually made of brass, one at the back, and the other at the front, which forms a mount for the dial.

    On English bracket, mantle and table clocks the backplate was often visible through a glass door or panel from the late 17th century, and could be profusely engraved with scrolling decorations, flowers, foliage, birds, and figures. The engraving could also include the maker?s name.

    The amount of engraving reduced and became simpler as the 18th century progressed, and by 1800, had been reduced to a border, often with the maker's name in the centre. By the early 1800s all decoration had ceased, and only the maker's name was added, and by the Victorian era, most bracket, mantle and table clocks had no engraving.
  • Movement - The technical name for the workings of a clock or watch, and does not include the dial or case.
  • Circa - A Latin term meaning 'about', often used in the antique trade to give an approximate date for the piece, usually considered to be five years on either side of the circa year. Thus, circa 1900 means the piece was made about 1900, probably between 1895 and 1905. The expression is sometimes abbreviated to c.1900.

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