About this lot

Description

the white dial, 32mm diameter, with central decoration, black Roman numerals, blued spade hands and chemin de fer chapter ring, crown wind mechanical movement with hand setting button at half past 2 and pumpkin shaped winder, case, 38mm diameter, marked '18K' and signed 'A.F & Ce', numbered 16117, the cuvette, similarly numbered and engraved 'Manufactured for D. Gill & Son, 78 Union Street, Aberdeen', verso decorated with a scallop edged blue guilloché enamel section set with a flower head cluster of rose cut diamonds within a gold scrolling border, outer and edge decorated with foliate engraving, gross weight 42.1g

Footnote: David Gill senior was a well-known watch and clockmaker and retailer with premises in Union Street, Aberdeen's principal thoroughfare. It was David Gill’s son, however, who became one of Scotland’s most famous people. Gill junior was interested in 'time', but even more interested in astronomy. He was made junior partner in the firm in 1863 and at the same time became involved in setting up the Cromwell Tower observatory in Aberdeen. Combining horology and astronomy, the firm of D Gill & Son supplied the observatory with the master clock which was regulated by reference to the prime standard of the stars. He inherited the clock & watchmaking business from his father after his death, but kept it only a few years before pursuing his main interest as an astronomer. He became Her Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope and went on to be the only Scot to have been awarded the Bruce Medal for lifetime achievement in astronomy, the Watson medal for outstanding astronomy and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society twice. He was knighted KCB by Queen Victoria in 1900. He retired to London, joining the council of the Royal Geographic Society, becoming president of the Royal Astronomical Society and the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Few British scientists of the 20th Century have been so widely honoured and so well respected as Sir David Gill, Scotland’s most notable astronomer, and his portrait hangs in the Royal Astronomical Society and in the Royal Society of London.

Back to lot listings