George Graham no.6499, dated 1750

Exhibit No.20

The gold inner case with plain glazed dial bezel, hinged to the plain back with shutter to the winding aperture and stirrup shaped bow. The inside punch numbered 6499 and hallmarked for London, 1750, further stamped JW with * above for the casemaker, John Ward of Boars Head Court, Fleet Street. The plain outer case with open bezel and shaped hinge to the back, the inside stamped JW with * above, for John Ward, and hallmarks for London, 1750, also containing a 20th century watch-paper for Camerer Cuss & Co., New Oxford Street, London.

The fine and original enamel dial with Arabic five-minute numerals outside their division ring and Roman hours within, indicated by original blued-steel beetle-and-poker hands.

The cylinder movement with gilt-brass plates and four square baluster pillars, signed G. Graham, London and numbered 6499. The gilt balance cock pierced and superbly foliate-and-scroll engraved with a mask below the diamond endstone and also numbered 6499 to the underside of the balance cock table, the similarly engraved top plate with silvered regulation disc, all held by blued-steel screws. The going train with original chain driving the fusee from the barrel, and the movement is protected by a removable gilt-brass dust-cap, signed Geo. Graham, London, and scratch-marked 6499 on the inside.

The Time Museum, Rockford, Illinois, USA, inventory no. 6499;

Sotheby’s New York, Masterpieces from the Time Museum, 13 October 2004, lot 539;

Private collection, UK

Evans, Thomas Tompion at the Dial and Three Crowns, 2006, p.100;

Evans, Carter & Wright, Thomas Tompion 300 Years, 2013, p.626;

Garnier & Carter, The Golden Age of English Horology, 2015, p.193.

52mm

Interestingly, the previous timepiece in the series, Graham no. 6498, is also hallmarked for 1750 and shares the same case maker, John Ward, but that watch is more-economically cased, in silver, without an expensive fired-enamel dial.