Heavy English 18K gold complicated pocket watch Circa 1880

Gold keyless lever watch by Thomas Boxell
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A heavy English 18 carat gold open faced keyless pocket watch with full calendar and moon phases, circa 1880. The movement with a lever escapement. White enamel dial with Roman hours, an outer minute track, an aperture for the phases of the moon at 12 o’clock, a retrograde date display underneath, the days of the week at 6, the months of the year at 8, sunk subsidiary seconds at 5 and blued silver spade & whip hands. A plain case. Dial signed, case numbered.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Weight: 125.5 g
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Signed: Boxell Brighton
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Thomas Boxell was born in 1823 in Brighton, England and died in 1885. He was recorded as a watchmaker and jeweller in Brighton as early as 1845. As a young man, Boxell was apprenticed to a local watchmaker and at the age of 22, he was running his own business as a watchmaker and jeweller at 55/56 Albion Street.

Kelly’s Directory of Sussex published in 1846 lists Thomas Boxell as a watchmaker at 56 Albion Street in Brighton. The 1851 census records him at 1 North Street Quadrant, Queen’s Road. The census return describes Boxell as a 27 year old watch and clockmaker, employing four men. That same year, he opened a second shop in North Street. Kelly’s Post Office Directory of Sussex and Taylor’s Original Brighton & Hove Directory lists Thomas Boxell at 145 North Street, in their lists headed Watch & Clockmakers. Advertisements published in the Brighton Herald in November 1856 announced Boxell’s removal to 40 King’s Road. Melville & Co.’s Directory of Sussex, issued in 1858, gives his full business address as The Brighton Observatory, 40 King’s Road, Brighton. When the census was taken some 25 years later on April 3rd, 1881, Boxell was recorded as a master watchmaker employing 11 hands at 43 King’s Road.