English fusee lever watch by George Gibson, Duns (near Berwick-on-Tweed). Gilt brass full-plate
movement with engraved cock and gold balance, signed G GIBSON / DUNSE / No. 27109. Silver consular
case with coin-edging and escutcheon on back, surrounded by engine-turning which is now very faint;
hallmarked London 1879 and signed A.G (Alfred Gurney of Clerkenwell). Engine-turned silver dial with
engraved wreath in centre, appliqué gold chapter-ring in Gothic style, circle of gold florets around
perimeter and gold details in central motif. Blued steel hands. Diameter 50mm.
This
type of dial was at its height between 1820 and 1850. By this time it was old-fashioned, but buyers
in Scotland and the far north of England (Duns is about twelve miles west of Berwick, just south of the
Scottish border) tended to be traditional-minded - persisting with the pair-case, for example, until
the very end of the century. Details like this show that the production of watches was not wholly a
matter of badge-engineering but could still take account of local preferences.
The gilding of
the movement is pale and lustreless by comparison with earlier examples. This may be simply a matter
of wear, but I suspect it is linked to the decline of the brilliant but very unhealthy mercury-gilding
process and its replacement by electroplating. Note that the balance is by now a good deal smaller
and the cock narrower than they are in, for example, the Lister watch.
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