About this lot

Description

circa 1869, the white dial, 45mm diameter, with miniature black Roman numerals, blued spade hands and chemin de fer chapter ring, the outer edge with the name JOSEPH, DAVIES. spaced at the indexes, front loading gilt full plate movement with pierced and engraved balance cock, lever escapement and chain fusée, engraved WELLINGTON SHAW 8051 case, 52mm diameter, verso hinged at 6 o'clock, plain and polished, interior with London hallmarks for Sterling silver and casemaker's mark of Robert Henry Jones, 141.9g gross and presented with the winding keys Footnote: The desire for a unique and personalised watch is not a new tradition, it is a trend which has persisted as far back as the eighteenth century. During these times, a wide variety of unique watch cases were popular, but they were also expensive. A more affordable option was to personalise an otherwise standard watch.One of the more creative methods was to replace all the numerals on the watch dial with a painted twelve letter abbreviation of the owner’s name. This method often proved extremely challenging, as not only did there need to be a 12-digit format, but specialist dial painters needed to be found to apply the lettering.It must read clearly and look beautiful, and of course there must be no overlapping of letters. English watchmakers used commas and full stops - as in this example - to make the decipherment of such watch faces even easier, although in the later examples there does not appear to be any punctuation. In some cases, names needed to be shortened (for example Thos instead of Thomas) and symbols such as stars were also used to lengthen short names, all to ensure that the 12 spaces were filled.Condition report: Case: Some minor surface scratches, dents and dings as to be expected. Verso with two minor bruises, one to the centre, and one to the edge at 2 o'clock. Front cover open and closes well, and the hinge does not appear strained. Some minor bruising to the interior.Crystal: Complete and secure. Some very, very minor chips to the edge, together with some minor surface scratches, as to be expected.Dial: Overall in good condition. A very minor hairline crack/scratch between 4 and 5 o'clock (E and P) running from the outer minute track to the inner. Some deterioration to both hands and the minute hand appears incomplete.Movement: In working order, though not tested for timekeeping.

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