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Markings |
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| James McCabe marked his watches in a fairly consistent manner from the very early years. The movement serial number seems to be stamped on all of the watch cases and after 1800 it also appears on the movement front plate. The letters IMC ( for I ames M c C abe) were added to the other marks on of the watch cases. After circa 1810 they appear on all cases but the earliest known example is 3574, hallmarked 1796. There is some evidence to indicate that the letters IMC first appeared on a McCabe watch in 1795 on the inside of the dust cap along with the serial number. This practice seems to have been abandoned when the IMC was moved to the case. After circa 1815 all watches have the letters IMC stamped on the front plate. From around 1830 the marks on the front plate are repeated on the inside of the back plate. All standard English table roller levers after about 1838 have the letters SS added to the marks on the case, the front plate and the inside of the back plate. One savage two pin lever hallmarked 1849 in this catalogue also bears the mark "SS" and it may have been applied to all lever watches. In later watches the marking of the two characters became wider and a hyphen inserted between them. The marking must have represented something but no theories have been put forward. | ||
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| Under dial marking of No. 00881. It bears the normal full serial number, "SS" and "IMC". It is also marked with the ebauche makers stamp "A&G" and size, 0 over 82. | Marks on underside of top plate | London Hallmark for 1856, casemakers mark for Alfred Stram. The "IMC" and SS found on lever watches plus the number stamped 180 degrees from the other marks. |
| The underside of the balance cock foot is normally stamped, the full serial number appearing from 1795 to 1838. From about 1810 to 1838 the letters IMC also appear. The letters SW, possibly the initials of the maker, also appear on many of the balance cocks between 1800 and 1820. Watches with serial numbers between 4000 and 5000 also tend to have the serial number stamped on the back plate under the balance cock foot. After 1838 only the last three digits of the serial number were used on the balance cock and the IMC marking was dropped. One free sprung "standard" lever, hallmarked 1856, and a pocket chronometer, hallmarked 1862, examined have no stamps on the balance cocks. None of the second line movements examined have marks stamped on the balance cocks.. |  |
| Despite the many changes of address and business names there are few variations in the signatures on the London watches. Wherever the surname McCabe is signed, an apostrophe (or on dials, a dot or underscore) denotes a character, or characters, have been missed indicating that if written in full it should read "MacCabe". In some early watches the surname is engraved "M"Cabe". Almost all watches made before 1805 bear the full Christian name, the latest example noted being the repeating movement in this catalogue made circa 1810. "Ja"s" appears on the movement and, if signed, also on the dial, no example has been seen with only an initial. A few watches were signed only with the surname and address, thought, probably incorrectly, to be "second quality" products. From 1775 to about 1802 the address is normally given only as "London". Later watches have "Royal Exchange" inserted.. | |
| Attention should be paid to where the movement is signed. On what could be regarded as standard production watches the barrel bridge, if present, is signed, the main plate of the watch is engraved with the number and "London". With some watches the signature, address and number are all crammed onto the barrel bridge. This probably indicates the movement was bought almost complete and only finished in the workshops prior to sale. This principal also applies to some of the more unusual production, for instance number 6183, hallmarked 1807 made by Earnshaw | |
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| Underside of dial with last 2 digits | Signature on the dial of 00881 |
| Gold and silvered dials are rarely signed or numbered on the face. However they normally have the full serial number and, with the exception of early examples, the letters IMC on the back. In addition, the gold dials have the 18 carat mark and in most cases the casemaker's stamp. The signature on the face of enamel dials varies, with pre-1800 dials hardly ever being signed. Between 1800 and 1830 the enamelled dials progress from bearing no signature to the serial number alone and finally to the full signature (James McCabe, Royal Exchange, London plus the serial number). When the dial is signed it has always been accompanied by the serial number. The earliest known dial with a full signature is on the duplex movement No 4785, circa 1802. After 1830 the enamelled and silvered dials almost always have a full signature and are surprisingly consistent in following exactly the details given on the movement. The backs of all enamelled dials examined have either the full serial number or at least the last two or three digits. | |
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