.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
George Margetts was born on the 17th. June 1748, and baptized on the 31st July, at Woodstock in Oxfordshire, the son of John Margetts of Woodstock. His father was a successful wheel-wright who was able to leave George the not inconsiderable sum of £20, to be paid on his 21st. birthday. He had five other brothers and was fourteen when his father died. He is presumed to have apprenticed to an Oxfordshire clockmaker, there being a longcase dial existing in the Beeson collection signed George Margetts, Old Woodstock. He became Free of the Clockmakers' Company on 11th October, 1779 by redemption.
Margetts' most positive achievement was his 1793 volume of Longitude tables which received a good deal of recognition from his contemporaries. Astronomy and astrology were Margetts' favourite and most lucrative subject. To this end he produced a series of tables or 'rotula' which will greatly conduce to facilitate the various calculations necessary to be made in every branch of Mathematics and of Astronomy and Navigation in particular; one such example survives in the British Museum. Despite the obvious qualities of his tables & rotula the Longitude Commissioners were not wholly inpressed and only occasionally supported Margetts in his many endevours. His marine chronometers are instantly recognisable for their clinical white enamel dials and large movements often with steel baluster pillars. They tended to be relatively crude affairs and were not renown for their accuracy, a fact born out by the Board of Longitude's reluctance to support him in any further ventures. He did however have some success with the East India Company to whom he supplied 40 sets of his tables for 100 guineas (he received half a guinea more per set a year later in 1791.)
His most spectacular 'rotula' was one he made for the Duke of Marlborough in about 1790, illus. A. J. Turner, op. cit. fig. 7, p. 311, it was probably made by Margetts as a marketing plan to sell his astronomical watches and chronometers, one of which could well have been bought by the Duke; To His Grace the Duke of Marlborough this Astronomical Rotula is most humbly dedicated by His Grace's most obedient servant George Margetts for shewing the rising and setting of the sun etc. ........ and serving to illustrate and explain his newly invented astronomical watches.
Still more impressive are the astronomical watches and chronometers of which only a handful are known to exist;
PRIVATE COLLECTION
1. Margetts no. 1, watch-sized, gold pair-cased (the outer with an enamelled figure of Astronomy), dated 1779, cylinder escapement
THE BRITISH MUSEUM;
1. Watch-sized, gold-case, dated 1778 with verge escapement
2. Watch-sized, lacking case (dial and movement only), verge escapement
THE ROYAL INSTITUTION, (thence to National Maritime Museum on the closure of the Institution's museum);
1. Watch size, No. 311, gold-cased, dated 1783, stolen in the 1970's, (possibly the watch illustrated in Britten's 6th. ed. p. 416, fig. 561.)
THE NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM (on loan);
1. Identical to the present lot with 130mm. enamel dial, gilt-cased and with chronometer escapement. This is the only other recorded example with these large proportions, it too was originally made with a tripod stand which has since been lost and is now set in a conventional marine chronometer box.
George Daniels op. cit, writes.....It is doubtful if Margetts deluded himself that these watches were of scientific importance although the astronomical information is remarkably accurate. Speculating on the reason for the existance for these watches F. J. Britten, Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers, suggests that they were made as presentation pieces for favoured captains of the East India Company for certainly some were engraved with their motto.
Daniels op. cit continues; However it should be remembered that in the late 18th century navigation was a hotly discussed and fashionable scientific subject....and Margetts was no doubt astute enough to realise that the watches would appeal to those Gentlemen of scientific bent who could afford to indulge their fancy with an expensive oracle. Whatever the contemporary merit of the watches, they are a complicated, attractive and an extremely clever monument to Margetts' remarkable talents.
Margetts' most positive achievement was his 1793 volume of Longitude tables which received a good deal of recognition from his contemporaries. Astronomy and astrology were Margetts' favourite and most lucrative subject. To this end he produced a series of tables or 'rotula' which will greatly conduce to facilitate the various calculations necessary to be made in every branch of Mathematics and of Astronomy and Navigation in particular; one such example survives in the British Museum. Despite the obvious qualities of his tables & rotula the Longitude Commissioners were not wholly inpressed and only occasionally supported Margetts in his many endevours. His marine chronometers are instantly recognisable for their clinical white enamel dials and large movements often with steel baluster pillars. They tended to be relatively crude affairs and were not renown for their accuracy, a fact born out by the Board of Longitude's reluctance to support him in any further ventures. He did however have some success with the East India Company to whom he supplied 40 sets of his tables for 100 guineas (he received half a guinea more per set a year later in 1791.)
His most spectacular 'rotula' was one he made for the Duke of Marlborough in about 1790, illus. A. J. Turner, op. cit. fig. 7, p. 311, it was probably made by Margetts as a marketing plan to sell his astronomical watches and chronometers, one of which could well have been bought by the Duke; To His Grace the Duke of Marlborough this Astronomical Rotula is most humbly dedicated by His Grace's most obedient servant George Margetts for shewing the rising and setting of the sun etc. ........ and serving to illustrate and explain his newly invented astronomical watches.
Still more impressive are the astronomical watches and chronometers of which only a handful are known to exist;
PRIVATE COLLECTION
1. Margetts no. 1, watch-sized, gold pair-cased (the outer with an enamelled figure of Astronomy), dated 1779, cylinder escapement
THE BRITISH MUSEUM;
1. Watch-sized, gold-case, dated 1778 with verge escapement
2. Watch-sized, lacking case (dial and movement only), verge escapement
THE ROYAL INSTITUTION, (thence to National Maritime Museum on the closure of the Institution's museum);
1. Watch size, No. 311, gold-cased, dated 1783, stolen in the 1970's, (possibly the watch illustrated in Britten's 6th. ed. p. 416, fig. 561.)
THE NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM (on loan);
1. Identical to the present lot with 130mm. enamel dial, gilt-cased and with chronometer escapement. This is the only other recorded example with these large proportions, it too was originally made with a tripod stand which has since been lost and is now set in a conventional marine chronometer box.
George Daniels op. cit, writes.....It is doubtful if Margetts deluded himself that these watches were of scientific importance although the astronomical information is remarkably accurate. Speculating on the reason for the existance for these watches F. J. Britten, Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers, suggests that they were made as presentation pieces for favoured captains of the East India Company for certainly some were engraved with their motto.
Daniels op. cit continues; However it should be remembered that in the late 18th century navigation was a hotly discussed and fashionable scientific subject....and Margetts was no doubt astute enough to realise that the watches would appeal to those Gentlemen of scientific bent who could afford to indulge their fancy with an expensive oracle. Whatever the contemporary merit of the watches, they are a complicated, attractive and an extremely clever monument to Margetts' remarkable talents.