About this lot

Description

c1900, the front lid with blue enamel Roman numerals and chemin de fer chapter ring, signed white dial, additionally marked '08764 AD. Fmsz', 42mm diameter, with black Roman numerals, blued double swell spade hands, subsidiary seconds register at 6 o'clock and chemin de fer chapter ring, signed crown wind mechanical movement with diamond end stone, top plate marked 'by appointment to the Queen 115 New Bond Street late of 84 Strand London number 08764', the raised area over the barrel engraved with a scroll pattern, hand setting button at 4 o'clock and onion shaped winder, case, 50mm diameter, by Harrison Mill Frodsham, numbered 08764 and with London hallmarks for 18ct gold, the cuvette similarly marked, gross weight 137.5g

Footnote: Charles Frodsham was a distinguished English horologist, founding his business in the 1840s. From 1884, he traded as Charles Frodsham & Co, which remains in existence as the longest continuously trading firm of chronometer manufacturers in the world. At the Great Exhibition in 1851, he was awarded a first-class medal for his timekeepers. The firm won fourteen further medals and honours at the major international exhibitions over the rest of the nineteenth century. The coded letters 'AD Fmsz' can be seen on the dials and movements on many Frodsham watches. This cryptogram corresponds to '1850', the year Charles produced his new caliper watch, and was used thereafter as a sign of the highest quality. The fact that diamond was used as the endstone seems to confirm this. This is an outstanding example of British Victorian horology at its best, housed in a heavyweight, finely made case.

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