A10526

Gold and Enamel Chatelaine Watch by Emery

£11,500.00

Signed   Josiah Emery  - Charing Cross London
Hallmarked London   1781
Diameter   50 mm       Depth   14 mm

1 in stock

Description

An 18th Century English verge by Emery in gold and enamel pair cases with chatelaine.  Full plate fire gilt movement with turned pillars.  Pierced and engraved masked cock with diamond endstone, pierced and engraved plate for the silver regulator disc. Fusee and chain with worm and wheel barrel setup between the plates. Plain three arm steel balance, blue steel spiral hairspring. White enamel dial with Roman and Arabic numerals, fine gold hands.  Plain gold inner case, gold pendant and bow, maker’s mark "MA" over "GM".  Gold and enamel outer case, three colour gold bezels. The back decorated with translucent dark blue enamel over an engine turned ground.  In the centre an oval depicting a classically dress seated woman, above a ducal coronet and below a small monogrammed cartouche.  Gold and enamel chatelaine, the gilt clip with applied panel matching the watch supporting six chains.  Central gold and enamel locket glazed on both sides containing a miniature painting of two ladies and woven hair to the reverse.  Three chains with gold and enamel links for the watch.  Also attached to the clip are two fine pearls in gold and enamel mounts, a gold and enamel key and an egg shaped gold vinaigrette threaded in the centre.  Sprung clips with threaded safety collars.

Josiah Emery, Charing Cross 1725 -97, free of the Clockmakers Company 1781.  A Swiss emigre, he was one of the most eminent makers of the late 18th Century producing some of the earliest lever watches.  The casemakers demonstrate the close knit nature of their trade.  Mary Aveline and Gideon Macaire worked at 5 Denmark Street, Soho, registering their mark in 1779.  Mary Aveline was the widow of  Daniel Aveline, 1709 - 1772, also recorded as a watch case maker in Denmark Street.  His mark is often found on fine gold cases, many of them decorative, containing movements by the best English watchmakers of the period. Gideon Macaire was registered as a gold worker at 12 Denmark Street in 1789.  His widow, Ann Macaire registered in partnership with Peter Desvignes as gold workers at 13 Denmark Street in 1793.  The outer case is a later replacement, hallmarked 1815, owned by a Duke.  Emery was known to supply the nobility (a watch by him and owned by the 4th  Duke of Marlborough was recently sold in London).  It appears the case itself has undergone some updating during its life.  The enamel cartouche bearing the initials below the scene has been cut out and replaced, no doubt when the watch was inherited by a son with different initials.

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