Pair-cased verge watch, signed by George Gray of London but very possibly of Dutch origin. Gilt brass
movement with pierced and engraved cock (two-footed or ‘bridge’ pattern suggesting a European origin)
and pierced and engraved surround to the Tompion regulator, signed London Geoe Gray 6864. Silver
champlevé dial with roman chapter-ring, the figures separated by gold florets (one missing), arcaded
minute track with large arabic numerals, and central area filled with a pierced and engraved design of
two eagles amid arabesques, incorporating a panel with the signature GRAY and a window for the brass
calendar disc. Gold hands in a modified beetle-and-poker design, the hour-hand having more the appearance
of a fleurdelys. Silver repoussé outer case representing a Graeco-Roman warrior with a staff, seizing
a seated woman by the arm as if arresting her, while two attendants look on; circular temple in background;
rococo swags and flowers round about and also on the front of the case, where there is considerable
wear. Domed glass without bullseye. Plain silver inner case, indistinctly hallmarked (probably London
1775). Stirrup bow. Diameter excluding hinge 50mm.
While decorative enough, this movement
is quite roughly finished and looks rather old-fashioned for its time; identical watches were being
made sixty years earlier. Repoussé cases were often used to house second-class movements imported from
Holland or Switzerland, often with forged or fictitious English signatures, and this is probably an example;
the movement may not have been new when it was cased. The chapter-ring should properly be filled in
with black wax, but there is no trace of this. The case may represent Aurelian and Zenobia, or possibly
the arrest of Messalina.
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