Cummins. A rare 18 carat gold openface pocketwatch with regulator dial and high grade lever escapement

SIGNED THOS. CUMMINS, NO. 14=26, LONDON, INV. ET FECIT, 1825

細節

Cummins. A rare 18 carat gold openface pocketwatch with regulator dial and high grade lever escapement
Signed Thos. Cummins, no. 14=26, London, Inv. et Fecit, 1825
The frosted gilt chain fusee movement with four turned pillars secured by blued steel screws, free sprung bimetallic balance with diamond endstone, blued steel helical spiral, interesting beatscale presumably for calibrating the balance, unusual fifteen tooth steel 'scape wheel, with notched oil sinks, the heavy gold lever with jewelled pallets, high quality roller with large ruby impulse stone, screwed banking pins, jewelled to the third with screwed chatons, polished steel set-up, engraved to the balance cock H.L. Goater AD 1827, the gold engine-turned regulator dial with outer minute ring and central minute hand, eccentric Roman chapter and seconds rings, blued steel hands, finely engine-turned centrefield, in engine-turned drum case, with hinged back and cuvette, casemaker's mark LC possibly for Louis Comtesse, movement signed
55 mm. diam.
London 1825 (indistinct)

來源

The Kalish Collection, Sotheby's, London, 13 July 1964, lot 60
The Belin Collection, no. 164, Sotheby's, London, 29 November 1979, lot 172

出版

Clutton & Daniels, Watches, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1969, p. 70

拍品專文

Little is known of the maker Thomas Cummins other than that he was probably the first English maker to utilise the lever escapement in high grade watches following its virtual neglect in this country from 1800-1820. He began to use the lever escapement in conjunction with a sophisticated form of Massey's escapement soon after 1820 and the earliest known example of his work is hallmarked 1822.

There are only about five known watches by Cummins's all with the same form of escapement and whilst his output was apparently small these examples also share other characteristics, for example the purchaser's name was engraved on the balance cock together with the year of purchase. Also Cummins used a system of double numbering whereby in this instance the 26 is emblematic of the year of manufacture and the 14 almost certainly representative of the watch number in that particular year.

A further example of Cummins work is illustrated in Watches by Clutton & Daniels, p. 270, figs. 266 a and b