I · The Maker/II · The Object/III · The Record/IV · Acquisition
Room I · The Maker
Josh. Skinner signs the plate in the London script of the period, the forename contracted with a raised h as the engravers wrote it. Through the second half of the eighteenth century the Dutch trade bought English verges in quantity and had them finished to its own taste, with arcaded minute rings, enamel regulator figures and plain silver pair cases, signed with a London name. Some of that work was made in London itself, by makers such as John Markham, and cased and hallmarked there before it crossed the North Sea.
The movement hinged out of its inner case
The Object
An English verge built for the Dutch market, with the arcaded enamel dial and enamel regulator disc that define the type, in London-hallmarked silver pair cases of 1764.
The white enamel dial is laid out the way the Dutch trade ordered it: black Roman hours, an outer minute ring drawn as a run of arches with a five-minute figure set within each arch, and a fleur-de-lis set between each hour. The gilt hands are a matched pair, pierced with foliate scrollwork, the minute hand running out to a long plain pointer that reaches the arches. Under the domed glass the arches give the edge of the dial a scalloped outline, picked out in fine black lines around each figure.
Behind it the movement is English work. The gilt full plate stands on square baluster pillars and drives a verge escapement through a fusee and chain, wound with a key through the hole in the inner case back, at the square on the back plate, and set from the dial. The balance cock is pierced with scrolling foliage around a sunburst boss and engraved at the neck with a mask, and the plate around it is cut with foliage on a matted ground, held with blued screws. The single concession to the buyer is the regulator: an enamel disc with black figures from 5 to 30 in place of the engraved silver disc usual on English work. The signature and the number, 1055, run along the lower edge of the plate below the cock.
The two cases are plain polished silver. The inner case has a stirrup bow and a domed bull's-eye glass, and the outer closes over it on a steel catch, 49.8mm across. The inner case is London made and fully hallmarked, so the watch carries its own date, 1764, rather than one read from its style. The dial, the hands and the movement all agree with it.
The watch winds fully, sets and runs well. The enamel has fine hairlines to the chapter ring, most visible between III and IIII and around 40 to 45, and light spotting to the centre, with no chips or losses. The inner case back carries handling marks and small dents from use, and the outer shows even surface wear.
The marks, the movement and the condition are set out in the drawers below.
Beneath the case
Open each drawer to look closer
Mark 1
London hallmarks, 1764
Lion passant, leopard's head crowned and the Old English date letter I for 1764, struck inside the inner case back.
inner case
London assay
Mark 2
R.N, the casemaker
The casemaker's mark R.N in a rectangle, struck beside the assay marks.
inner case
maker's mark
Mark 3
No. 1055
The movement number engraved at the edge of the back plate, following the script signature along its curve.
back plate
number
Part A
Mask balance cock
Pierced and engraved single-foot cock with a sunburst boss and a mask at the neck, held by blued screws.
Part B
Enamel regulator
Regulator disc in white enamel with black figures from 5 to 30, set with a steel index.
Part C
Pillars and fusee
Gilt full plate on square baluster pillars, the verge driven through a fusee and chain.
Part D
In the case
The movement hinges out of the inner case on its joint. Winding is through the hole in the case back, at the square on the back plate, without opening it.
Case
Very good
Plain silver pair cases, both secure and closing properly. Handling marks and small dents to the inner case back, even surface wear and light scratches to the outer. Inner case back hallmarked London 1764 with the casemaker's mark R.N.
Dial
Very good
White enamel with fine hairlines to the chapter ring, most visible between III and IIII and around 40 to 45, and light spotting to the centre. No chips or losses. Gilt pierced hands.
Movement
Excellent
Gilt full plate verge fusee on square baluster pillars, signed Jos:h Skinner London and numbered 1055. Mask balance cock, foliate-engraved plate, enamel regulator disc, blued screws. Winds fully, sets and runs well.
Crystal
Excellent
Domed bull's-eye glass, clear.
Crown
None fitted, key-wind from the back plate and key-set from the dial by original design. Stirrup bow and pendant sound. No key supplied.
49.8
This watch
25.75
€2 coin
A €2 coin is 25.75 mm. This case is more than two and a half times its area.
Room III · The Record
The back plate, signed Jos:h Skinner London, No. 1055
Hallmarked London 1764, movement No. 1055.
The back plate is signed in script Jos:h Skinner London, the h raised, and numbered 1055. Inside the inner case back are the full London marks: the lion passant for sterling, the leopard's head crowned for the London assay office, the date letter for 1764 in Old English, and the casemaker's mark R.N. The arcaded minute ring and the pierced gilt hands are the Dutch-market specification of those years, the enamel regulator disc sits with them, and all of it agrees with the date the case gives.
- Maker
- Josh. Skinner, London (signed; made for the Dutch market)
- Model
- Dutch-market verge, arcaded enamel dial
- Movement
- Key-wind, key-set verge fusee, gilt full plate, No. 1055
- Case
- Silver pair cases, inner case hallmarked London 1764, casemaker R.N
- Case Style
- Open face
- Diameter
- 49.8mm (outer case)
- Dial
- White enamel, Roman hours, arcaded Arabic minute ring, gilt pierced hands
- Complications
- None
- Country
- England, made for the Dutch market
- Date
- 1764
- Serial Number
- 1055
The Estate Collection
Room IV · Acquisition
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Josh. Skinner, Dutch-market verge, 1764
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