Below left
To the very end, verge watches generally retained the full-width pierced and engraved
cock-table, although other ‘modern’ features such as the screw-on barrel-bridge and Bosley regulator
— both seen here — gradually crept in after about 1800.
Despite the ornate cock, this movement is
fairly rough in general finish and I suspect that the colourless name ‘S. Robinson’ (unidentifiable in
any book) conceals a provincial maker who preferred the extra price chargeable for a ‘London’ item to
the doubtful glory of trumpeting his own name and workplace.
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Below right
This side view shows the deep-rimmed crown-wheel and also the coarse file-marks on
the edge of the cock-table, symptomatic of declining standards at a period when the verge escapement
had ceased to merit serious attention from makers.
The steel shaft just to the left of the crown-wheel
is the arbor of the third wheel,which from about 1790 onwards began to be recessed into the front plate
– a practice continued in the age of the lever. Previously the third wheel faced the opposite way,
being positioned just behind the back plate.
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