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“Mrs. Gamp” is a monstrous (61mm) single-case silver French verge watch of about 1790. This is an
example of the popular European watchmaker's pastime, “Being Eardley Norton”. This fashionable London
maker, patronised by King George III, was a constant target for pirate copyists, many of whom (as here)
were adroit enough to imitate such English features as the engraved back-plate and the cantilever cock
with single splayed foot. This maker has gone a step further and counterfeited a Terribly British dial
with a reticent chapter-ring; but the shaky dial calligraphy, coarse engraving, screwed-on end-plate
and decorated silver dust-cover (right) give the game away. — Why “Mrs. Gamp”? Well: I originally
chose the name (after Dickens's drunken nurse) for something that was bloated, vulgar, slipshod, deceitful
and unreliable, chattered away at great speed and volume and went into fainting-fits when upset. It
now seems a little unfair, since after some adjustment Mrs. Gamp became a remarkably serviceable watch,
keeping time to within two minutes a day.
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