Lot Essay
A total of 650 tourbillon watches have been recorded and have always epitomized the highest achievement of watchmaking skill. Approximately 150 tourbillons are signed by English makers, although often the movements were in fact imported from Switzerland. Nicole Nielsen & Co., the maker of this movement, built approximately 90 percent of those imported movements and supplied the famous Houses of S. Smith & Sons and E. Dent & Co. in addition to Charles Frodsham.
The making of the actual tourbillon, which is a separate and esoteric addition to the Nicole Nielsen movements, would have been undertaken by an outside craftsman. The tourbillon in this watch was made by Mr. James C. Pellaton who also made each of the tourbillons in the series of fifteen such watches commissioned from Frodsham by Mr. J.P. Morgan; Mr. Morgan gave the watches as presentation pieces to new partners in his banking firm. Mr. Pellaton, the son of the famous watchmaker Albert Pellaton-Favre (who is credited with making 82 tourbillons) claims, in his pamphlet Le Tourbillon to have been the only [Swiss] maker of tourbillons from 1908-- the year his father retired-- to 1922, excepting those few made by his students at L'Ecole d'horologerie in Le Locle. Mr. Pellaton later (1927-1938) became the director of that institution.
The dial, case, and hands of these "Morgan" watches are English made. To discuss the dial of this watch and its distinctive Frodsham marks requires a brief biography of the firm.
Charles Frodsham, R.A.S. (1810-1871), born into a family of eminent horologists, established himself in business at an early age at 7 Finsbury Pavement in London. As evidenced by signatures on the watches he produced Mr. Frodsham relocated to 84 Strand, then 115 New Bond Street, and finally at 27 Moulton. It was at Moulton Street where Mr. J.M. Ellison, as successor to Mr. Frodsham's son, was directing the firm when Mr. Paul M. Chamberlain was researching his book It's About Time in the 1920s, the period during which the "Morgan" watches were being made. It is Mr. Chamberlain who explains the idiosyncratic numbering and lettering system used by the House since its earliest days. The eight letters of the name Frodsham, assigned to numerals 1-8 with the addition of Z for the 9 partly explains the mysterious AD Fmsz (or, AD 1859) marked on the dials and movements of Frodsham's highest quality pieces. According to Mr. Chamberlain, the cipher is actually a "sentimental gesture" passed down from Mr. Frodsham to commemorate the year in which a new series of watches was designed by his very close friend, the brilliant Mr. James Ferguson Cole. 1859 is also, incidentally, the year in which the British Horological Institute was founded, of which both Frodsham and Cole were early Vice Presidents.
As for the arabic numbering of Frodsham watches, a zero was prefixed to each reference number after 1843 when, at the age of 33, Mr. Frodsham was able to buy out his partner Mr. J.R. Arnold (son of the reknowned chronometer maker John Arnold) and became sole director of the firm (see lots 191 and 192 in this sale).
One final anecdote pertains to the case maker HMF. Harrison Mills Frodsham (1855-1927), as son of Charles, was, besides the case maker for the "Morgan" watches, an author of scholarly articles for the Horological Journal. His name, interestingly, bears witness to his family's remarkable horological lineage: his great grandmother, Alice Harrison Frodsham, was the granddaughter of the revered chronometer maker John Harrison (1693-1776).
Lot 362 is a previously unrecorded watch. Of the fifteen watches commissioned by Mr. J.P. Morgan, two (nos. 08921, c. 1908 and 09777, c. 1917) are discussed in Das Tourbillon by Reinhard Meis (pages 218-221), and another (no. 09849, c. 1920) was sold in these rooms October, 1991.
The making of the actual tourbillon, which is a separate and esoteric addition to the Nicole Nielsen movements, would have been undertaken by an outside craftsman. The tourbillon in this watch was made by Mr. James C. Pellaton who also made each of the tourbillons in the series of fifteen such watches commissioned from Frodsham by Mr. J.P. Morgan; Mr. Morgan gave the watches as presentation pieces to new partners in his banking firm. Mr. Pellaton, the son of the famous watchmaker Albert Pellaton-Favre (who is credited with making 82 tourbillons) claims, in his pamphlet Le Tourbillon to have been the only [Swiss] maker of tourbillons from 1908-- the year his father retired-- to 1922, excepting those few made by his students at L'Ecole d'horologerie in Le Locle. Mr. Pellaton later (1927-1938) became the director of that institution.
The dial, case, and hands of these "Morgan" watches are English made. To discuss the dial of this watch and its distinctive Frodsham marks requires a brief biography of the firm.
Charles Frodsham, R.A.S. (1810-1871), born into a family of eminent horologists, established himself in business at an early age at 7 Finsbury Pavement in London. As evidenced by signatures on the watches he produced Mr. Frodsham relocated to 84 Strand, then 115 New Bond Street, and finally at 27 Moulton. It was at Moulton Street where Mr. J.M. Ellison, as successor to Mr. Frodsham's son, was directing the firm when Mr. Paul M. Chamberlain was researching his book It's About Time in the 1920s, the period during which the "Morgan" watches were being made. It is Mr. Chamberlain who explains the idiosyncratic numbering and lettering system used by the House since its earliest days. The eight letters of the name Frodsham, assigned to numerals 1-8 with the addition of Z for the 9 partly explains the mysterious AD Fmsz (or, AD 1859) marked on the dials and movements of Frodsham's highest quality pieces. According to Mr. Chamberlain, the cipher is actually a "sentimental gesture" passed down from Mr. Frodsham to commemorate the year in which a new series of watches was designed by his very close friend, the brilliant Mr. James Ferguson Cole. 1859 is also, incidentally, the year in which the British Horological Institute was founded, of which both Frodsham and Cole were early Vice Presidents.
As for the arabic numbering of Frodsham watches, a zero was prefixed to each reference number after 1843 when, at the age of 33, Mr. Frodsham was able to buy out his partner Mr. J.R. Arnold (son of the reknowned chronometer maker John Arnold) and became sole director of the firm (see lots 191 and 192 in this sale).
One final anecdote pertains to the case maker HMF. Harrison Mills Frodsham (1855-1927), as son of Charles, was, besides the case maker for the "Morgan" watches, an author of scholarly articles for the Horological Journal. His name, interestingly, bears witness to his family's remarkable horological lineage: his great grandmother, Alice Harrison Frodsham, was the granddaughter of the revered chronometer maker John Harrison (1693-1776).
Lot 362 is a previously unrecorded watch. Of the fifteen watches commissioned by Mr. J.P. Morgan, two (nos. 08921, c. 1908 and 09777, c. 1917) are discussed in Das Tourbillon by Reinhard Meis (pages 218-221), and another (no. 09849, c. 1920) was sold in these rooms October, 1991.