Coach Watch Series - 3: Timothy Williamson

In the late eighteenth century some notable export businesses were built in London, clocks and watches often being the stock-in-trade.  There was considerable demand from the Ottoman Empire, China and India for highly decorative pieces of a quality standard not met by local craftsmen.  Perhaps the best known English entrepreneur was James Cox, to whom I referred in my post, ‘Soho Sophistication.’  Timothy Williamson, like Cox, was not a horologist himself, his own craft skills being those of the goldsmith.

Britten’s dates/locations are: 1768-88; 196 Fleet Street (1769-75); 59 Fleet Street (1777-83); 90 Great Russell Street (1785-88). 

Roger Smith, writing in Antiquarian Horology, says:  ‘The goldsmith Timothy Williamson may have organised the making of his own distinctive cases, but their movements could well have been supplied by the well-known clockmaker, William Hughes, with whom Williamson has close links.’ 

Working dates for Hughes according to Britten’s were 1766-94.  He worked at 119 High Holborn, an address which became famous as being that of Thomas Earnshaw, who took over Hughes’s business.  Earnshaw, though already time-served when he arrived in London, looked upon Hughes as his mentor. 

This Coach Watch ‘by’ Williamson was made for China.  Diameter is 85mm and the movement number is 3416, probably 1785-90.  It is a twin train verge with Grand Sonnerie strike, moon-age and centre seconds complication.  The case is gilt with paste stone decoration: 

Courtesy Ashland Investments

A similar style watch by Williamson, number 2780, was offered, but not sold by Antiquorum at a Geneva sale in October 2000, with estimate of $14,000 - $17,000.  That one’s diameter was no less than 140mm.

Hughes’s own watches tended to be plainer, though of high quality, and he signed the dial:

Courtesy of artclock.nl

Coach Watch Series - 2: John Grantham

John Grantham’s life and work is not well documented. The Baillie entry is simply: London. Mid 18c. g. rep. agate watch Stern coll.  Loomes records just the date 1762.  As for premises, Swallow Street, St. James, Piccadilly is recorded for 1779. 

I have found 6 other extant Grantham verges – all but one are flamboyant in appearance. 

This example was made in London around 1760 for export to China.  Movement number is 6828.  Diameter is 76mm.  It was sold in 2012 by Jones & Horan for $7,000.  It is also to be seen on the website of Stephen Bogoff.

 

Courtesy of Stephen Bogoff

  

In the period the cases of watches destined for China were very highly
decorated, with the use of multiple materials to complement the multi-functionality of the movement. This is well illustrated by another Grantham watch to be seen on Sotheby’s website.

 
This is not a Coach Watch, being just 43mm in diameter. However, it has many of the features associated with more opulent, larger format examples. Sotheby’s description should have you clicking the link in order to see such indulgence: 

A FINE AND RARE GOLD, AGATE, DIAMOND AND RUBY SET QUARTER REPEATING VERGE WATCH CIRCA 1750

Gilt full plate verge movement signed John Grantham London, pierced and engraved balance cock • white enamel dial, Roman numerals • pierced and engraved inner case, outer set with repoussé scrolls, moss agate plates on the case back and bezel, ruby and diamond-set motifs on the edges, diamond-set push button piece to the band • signed on the movement  

 

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2010/important-watches-ge1004/lot.114.html 

Function or Fashion?

The original draft of my article on John Grant of Fleet Street, published in the February 2016 issue of Clocks Magazine, included some extensive narrative about and depiction of Benjamin Webb’s Patent Polar Watches.  During the editing process a good deal of this was removed, mainly because of some difficulties experienced with the copyright holders for the images I had intended to use for illustrative purposes.  Subsequently the issue has been resolved – not just in regard to the specific material, but as a broad principle.  As a matter of policy, the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford has now decided to allow images available on its website to be freely downloadable for use by academic publications with a low print-run.

John Grant’s business was distinguished by an innovative approach both to manufacturing and retailing.  This latter aspect was well evidenced by the offering of Webb’s Polar Watches.  These dual-purpose instruments are certainly interesting in their own right.  They are an example of a favourite ‘branch’ of watchmaking of mine: multi-functionality – a trend that emerged in the late 18^th/early 19^th centuries, including Coach Watches – with four or five time metrics – Chronographs, and such as the Watch-Pedometers of Ralph Gout and Polar Watches of Benjamin Webb. 

I’d like to reproduce here the ‘look’ of the Polar Watches and the related promotional material as I believe it represents the period extremely well:

The Times 9-10-1799

 

 

© Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford

 

Sotheby’s offered a Polar Watch, #81, at their sale, ‘Important Watches, Clocks and Automata’, 20 October 2009, New York, with an estimate of $5,000-$7,000:

 

Courtesy of Sotheby’s

 

This is #146, sold by Sotheby’s in 2002 for £1,292:

 

 

Courtesy of Sotheby’s

#45 can be seen on the Antiquorum website.  It is very similar to #81. 
 

#123 – movement only, is held at The British Museum and further examples are in the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers’ collection, (#129) and York Castle Museum.  According to Paul Tuck, in his ‘Horology Under the Hammer’, Antiquarian Horology, Vol 21, #2, 1993, the Polar Watch featured a Duplex escapement. 
 

Although Webb liked to feature, ‘The King’s Patent’, prominently, it was not his own.  The reference is to Patent #2280, December 1798, in the name of John Randall Peckham of Bermondsey.

 

Webb was amongst the Makers quoted in a 1798 Parliamentary Report on the petitions for repeal of the Duties on Clocks and Watches Act 1797.  Webb summarized his loss of business with the following data:

 

	1796	1797	1798	Decrease from 1st July to 31st December:
From January 1st to June 30th	1,220	1,088
July 1st to December 31st	1,990	565
Total	2,410	1,653		625
In the last Four Months				Decrease in:
November	231	123		November  108
December	126	53		December    73
January	101	125	47	January       78
February	249	267	6	February    261   Total         520

Webb stated that he had been in business for 27 years and had never before seen such a sudden fluctuation in business volume.  He added that it had become very common to substitute silver/base metal for gold in the making of cases.

 

Evidence from John Grant was also heard in regard to the Act. 
 

The Polar Watches are usually ascribed to the dates, circa 1800-05, and evidence of Webb’s subsequent prosperity is lacking.  The British Museum notes him as active up to 1811.  Although the trading title, Benjamin Webb & Son was in use at the time of the marketing of the Polar Watches, little is known about his offspring, James.  Baillie lists him: London (St John’s Sq) 1799.  There is also a Robert with St John’s Sq given as location, and dates 1815-25.

 

Although the Polar Watch concept and its marketability were unproven, just in case it was about to become highly sought after, the commercially vigilant Swiss were not slow to create similar – though less elegant – similar instruments, this for example:

 

Courtesy Cogs & Pieces 

 

The theoretical ‘need’ for Webb’s creation was probably not sustained by practical experience.  The carrying of a compass would not have been especially onerous for a mariner or explorer, used to working with one in any event.  Equally, a relatively small compass housed in tandem with a timepiece would be unlikely to offer the accuracy/stability of a stand-alone instrument.  No doubt there was an initial talking-point value whereby the flourishing of his Polar Watch emphasised the trendiness of a young Gentleman about Town.  However, as the new century got into its stride the underlying quality and elegance of form implied by the term ‘Chronometer’ probably soon attracted the fashion-conscious watch buyer’s attention, at the expense of a ‘novelty’ such as Webb’s.

 

That Arm Must be Tired by Now

I have waited over 60 years to become an owner of one of these, so its arrival in the post today was quite an event:

 

It reminded me of my excitement when the new issue of the Eagle comic arrived weekly.  In modern parlance, the production values of the Eagle were astonishing in the relatively austere early Fifties.  The use of colour and illustration detail were ground-breaking. 

Dan Dare, on the front cover, was certainly the star turn and amongst the character-branded merchandise, the watch was our Holy Grail of the times.  The sub seconds dial and automaton arm/ray gun added considerable sophistication.

 

My new acquisition is the earlier version, made in 1953.  The Eagle publishers decided that the Ingersoll dial script was too assertive and ordered a replacement variant where ‘Dan Dare’ was substituted for the maker’s name and ‘Made in Great Britain’ was removed. 

I now need to find an original box – probably much rarer than the watch itself, so I’ve started saving!

© Trustees of the British Museum

Coach Watch Series - 1: Perigal

Having been so impressed by the Coach Watches of William Carpenter, I’m going to create a series of short posts each with details of such a watch/watches and maker.  The first is a product of Francis Perigal, in collaboration with Markwick Markham, the latter name lending considerable clout for the eastern export markets.  Baillie lists no less than twelve members of the Huguenot Perigal family active in the London watchmaking trade from the beginning of the eighteenth century through to 1840.
 

Five of the watchmaking Perigals were named Francis, so some confusions of dates/products must be expected.  I believe this Francis (1742-1824), had premises at 57 Bond Street and achieved the status, Watchmaker to the King. 

This Coach Watch is numbered 15407 and likely to be circa 1820.  It features a silver triple case and is a repeater with quarter striking, Petite Sonnerie pattern.  Diameter is 123mm:

 

Courtesy of Antiquorum

This one is earlier - circa 1780 - again triple-cased and quarter striking, but also with calendar and alarm; dial with Ottoman numerals.  Diameter is 181mm:

 

Courtesy of Antiquorum

Soho Sophistication

William Carpenter was at work as a London Clock and Watch Maker in the later eighteenth century.  He became free of the Clockmakers Company in 1781.  Roger Smith has suggested that Carpenter lived from circa 1727-1803¹.  However, other sources indicate that he was working until at least 1818².   From the same sources his premises are given as: 

45 Frith Street (Soho) 1778-84

15 Frith Street 1790-5; (this could be a misreading from a handwritten source of ‘45’)

10 St. Martin’s Court 1798-1812

5 Haberdashers Walk (Hoxton) 1818 

Soho was a district in which a considerable number of French Huguenot refugee horologists/jewellers settled in the late seventeenth century³ and Roger Smith speculated that the Carpenter family name was perhaps originally, Charpentier.  Today Soho Square is the location of Christ Church - the only surviving Huguenot church in London.  

A reason to speculate that Carpenter may have had a French heritage is his frequent use of the Coach Watch ‘format’ and its associated continental characteristic of decorative complexity.  Reviewing 50 timepieces of this type recently catalogued on the Antiquorum site, the following analysis resulted: 

By Continental European makers                                  32      (64%)

By Continental makers working in London                       7      (14%)

By English makers                                                       11      (22%)

 

Of the Continental European makers, number French      14      (44%) 

Extant Coach Watches are not uncommon, especially as made in the period, 1740 – 1810, but examples can be seen from as early as the seventeenth century.  Intended to be hung in a prominent place within a coach or carriage, allowing all the passengers to readily see the time, these watches were typically in the size (diameter) range, 70mm-120mm.  As a means of distinguishing the operator’s firm (brand), with a connotation of character and quality, Coach Watches tended to complicated – often with 4 or 5 sub dials and repeating/alarm functions – and highly decorative, with extensive case engraving and enamelling/paste work. 

In cataloguing and analysing Carpenter’s production – here I am addressing watchmaking only, not clock manufacture – a helpful aspect is what appears to be an orderly, consistent run of movement numbers.  The lowest is 4040 and the highest 6074.  From this range I would conclude that Carpenter’s rate of manufacture never exceeded 100 per year, and, given the high degree of movement complication he favoured, was perhaps in some years considerably less. 

More of a challenge is the job of dating the watches.  Since the great majority of extant timepieces are housed in brass-based cases, hallmarking on a Carpenter watch is a rarity.  Cataloguers seem to apply ‘circa 1780’, ‘circa 1790’ and ‘circa 1795’ fairly indiscriminately. 

An advanced degree of complication is to be seen with the lower movement numbers – five metrics being evident with movement numbers, 4040, 4043 and 4053, seen left – right in the photographs below.  These three all have an outer, concentric minute track, with Arabic numerals at 5 minute intervals.  The four subsidiary dials are as follows:  at 12.00, hours, with Roman numerals; at 3.00, seconds, with Arabic numerals at 5 second intervals; at 6.00, jump ¼ seconds⁴; at 9.00, moon age. 

The cases of these ‘early’ watches feature engraved foliage and floral decoration.  On 4040 and 4043 the bezels are decorated with paste stones.  All three are approximately 80mm in diameter.  In each case both movement and dust cap are signed W^m Carpenter, London.

 

Courtesy of Cogs & Pieces; Sotheby’s; Auktionen Dr. Crott, Germany 

For comparison, here below is a Coach Watch of similar complexity by James Cox.  The functionality is very much the same, except that one fifth jump seconds are measured as opposed to the quarters on the Carpenter versions.  Cox was primarily a goldsmith, but became a notable trade entrepreneur, developing a substantial horological goods business in the Far East markets.  He twice shrugged off bankruptcy and established a team of craftsmen to make clocks, watches and items of jewellery, marketed under his name.  This gilt metal case is big – 125mm - and is covered with shagreen skin.  It dates from circa 1775, the movement number being 8042:

 

Courtesy of Sotheby’s 

The case style seen for Carpenter’s early Coach Watches is evident in this Clock Watch, to which he assigned number, 4560.  From the dial it might be thought that it is much simpler.  However, features include Quarter (bell) Strike and stoppable Centre Seconds.  It is significantly smaller at 54mm diameter:

 

Courtesy of Antiquorum Auctioneers

Probably of very similar date is movement number 4580 which incorporates an alarm.  The dial is more like the early examples, but there are three as opposed to four sub-dials – indicating hours, seconds and alarm set time. 

 

Courtesy of Auktionen Dr. Crott, Germany 

In a further variation of the Coach Watch format, Carpenter made use of a large aperture in the dial in order to display the balance, which was accordingly treated to a decorative gilt finish.  Examples are movement numbers, 4633 and 4644.  These are a little smaller than the earliest Carpenter Coach Watches, being 70mm/74mm in diameter.  Both have pair cases engraved with foliar forms and have enamel polychromatic paintings on their backs.  There is no concentric index, but functions/sub-dials, clockwise from the 12.00 position are: hours, (Roman numerals); minutes, (Arabic numerals at 5 minute intervals); seconds, (Arabic numerals at 10 second intervals); jump quarter seconds; regulation; moon age.  A band of alternating-colour paste stones surrounds the balance-sight aperture, the stones being red/green in 4633 and red/blue in 4644.

 

4633 – Courtesy of Antiquorum Auctioneers

 

4644 – Courtesy of Antiquorum Auctioneers 

Details of extant watches are given in the table below.  In this I have indicated the date attributed by the various source cataloguers – inconsistencies are immediately apparent as the watches are listed in movement number order. 

Date	Number	Type	Description	Notes
C1780	4040	5 dial verge Coach Watch	Gilt/brass pair cased watch with paste set bezel with alternating red and clear stones;  Diam – 81mm	Hands are not original.  Item #590 on Cogs & Pieces, January 2016
C1794	4043	5 dial verge Coach Watch	Gilt/brass pair cased watch with paste set bezel with alternating green and clear stones.  Engraved foliage and floral decoration to the band; outer case with engraved foliage and floral decoration to both bands; Diam - 80mm	Sold by Sotheby’s 2012 – Treasures of the Qing Court, for £9,375
C1795	4053	5 dial verge Coach Watch	Gilt/brass pair cased watch.  Engraved foliage and floral decoration to the band; outer case with engraved foliage and floral decoration to both bands; Diam - 82mm	Lot 324 on Dr Crott auction 89US
C1790	4531	Decorative Pocket Watch	Gilt metal and enamelled triple cased automaton watch with concealed erotic scene.  Centre-seconds and stop feature	Sold by Antiquorum 2001 for : 14,375 CHF
C1790	4560	Quarter-striking, two-train verge Clockwatch with centre-seconds and stop feature	Gilt metal and paste-set with red stones case. Gold ovoid hands.  Striking the hours and quarters on a bell in the back of the case. Diam - 54 mm	Sold by Antiquorum 2008.  for 7,800 CHF
C1800	4579	Twin dial verge Coach Watch with aperture giving sight of an erotic animated painting	Gilt metal and paste-set with red and white stones case.  Dial is decorated with a polychromatic painting of a shepherdess and her sheep by a river. Diam - 79mm	Offered by Teadway Toomey auctions, 6 Feb 2016; estimated at $8,000 - $12,000
C1795	4580	4 dial verge Coach Watch with alarm	Gilt/brass pair cased watch.  Engraved foliage and floral decoration to the band; outer case with engraved foliage and floral decoration to both bands; Diam - 87mm	Lot 93 on Dr Crott auction 92US
C1780	4628	Twin dial verge	Gilt/brass with a goutte outer case.  Polychromatic painted dial.  Diam – 60mm	Lot 108 on Dr Crott auction 83
C1790	4633	Multi dial pair cased verge Coach Watch	Gilt metal and enamel painting with aperture in dial showing red/green paste-set balance.  Gold arrow hands. Diam – 74mm	Sold by Antiquorum 2013 for 31,250 CHF
C1790	4644	Multi dial pair cased verge Coach Watch	Gilt metal and Limoges style enamel painting – including portrait of Marie Antoinette with aperture in dial showing red/green paste-set balance.  Gold arrow hands. Diam – 70mm	Sold by Antiquorum 2013 for 20,000 CHF
	4724	Multi dial pair cased verge	Gilt/brass.  Aperture in dial showing balance.  Diam – 60mm	Outer case, bezel and hands (except minute) missing.  In The British Museum, but not on display
C1780	6074	Cylinder Pocket Watch	Gold pair cased watch with ‘Turkish’ dial. Gold beetle and poker hands	Offered, not sold by Antiquorum in 1994

From these examples it is evident that Carpenter was a stylish, highly skilled watchmaker.  His clocks also were complicated, highly decorative and, accordingly, successful in the Indian, Turkish and Chinese export markets.  The V & A Museum in London holds one of his musical automaton clocks which can be seen in action in a short video found at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/v/video-a-musical-automaton-clock/ .

It is a pity that there was apparently no son to carry on the Carpenter business – one imagines that such would have been a very fine maker in the early nineteenth century era of the Chronometer.

_________________________________________________________________

1.            Roger Smith, Antiquarian Horology - ‘SOME MID-EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CRAFTSMEN, GRAY & VULLIAMY OUTWORKERS AND SUPPLIERS c.1760’, Vol 29, no 3. March 2006.  Page 354.  Also Johnstone’s London Commercial Guide and Street Directory, May 1818 – Carpenter recorded as at 5 Haberdashers’ Walk.  In my opinion it is likely that Carpenter was born around 1740.

 

2.            Clutton/Baillie/Ilbert, Britten’s, Old Clocks & Watches and their Makers, 1982. Methuen. London. Page 394.

3.            British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol2/pp158-165

4.            For a better understanding of the jump seconds function, the Horological Journal featured an excellent article in the October 2015 issue, ‘Independent-Train Watches and Jump Quarter-Seconds’, by Philip W. Kuchel.