Gold and gilt brass triple case quarter repeater... Lot 1

Gold and gilt brass triple case quarter repeater watch signed (movement and dust cover), 'Jh° Grantham London No. 4260', circa 1765. White enamel dial with arcades, Roman numerals for the hours, Arabic for the minutes, white metal hands set with brilliants (qqs. missing); gilt brass movement, silver regulator disk, cock, with openworked foot engraved with foliage, verge escapement, cylindrical pillars, stamped repeater, dust cover; openworked and engraved gold case stamped with the initials 'I W' for either John Watkins or John Wright, London ; double gold case worked in the round by soldering on the base of the case (second technique described by Edgecumbe 29), with Procris offering Cephalus his hunting dog and his infallible spear; triple case (associated) in gilt brass and green tortoiseshell (some missing) glazed on the back. D. 56m. Gross weight : 150g Repeater to be restored. For this scene from the story of Cephalus and Procris see Ovid, The Metamorphoses vii. 23-26. Cases with soldered parts were common in the third quarter of the eighteenth century, and often associated with watches bearing arcaded dials. This suggests that they were intended for the Dutch market. The Grantham family of watchmakers, to which our John Grantham belonged, was a specialist in this type of production. By its style we can perhaps associate the case with the production of George Michael Moser (1706-1783), the most appreciated chaser of his time, and an important figure in the artistic life of London. See Richard Edgecumbe, The Art of the Gold Chaser in eighteenth-century London, Oxford 2000.