English diamond and garnet-set repeater verge Circa 1730

Gold, diamond and garnet-set repeating watch
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A rare English gold, diamond and garnet-set pair cased repoussé repeater verge watch, circa 1730, fire gilt full plate movement, decoratively pierced and engraved masked balance cock, plain flat balance, round baluster pillars, fusee and chain, two steel hammers repeating on a bell to the inside case back, gilt metal dust cap.

Gold champlevé dial, Roman numerals, outer Arabic minute track, blued steel beetle and poker hands, yellow gold inner case, decoratively pierced band engraved with scrolling foliage, birds and dolphins, engraved townscape below the pendant and head to the base, pulse piece below 7o’clockk, the outer repoussé case with chased decoration, set with garnets surrounded by diamonds to the four corners and centre of the back, further garnets and rose-cut diamonds set in between, pierced band, the bezel similarly pierced and with silver set diamond panels, inner case with maker’s mark JB, movement and dust cap signed Henry Thornton, dial signed.
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Diameter: 50 mm
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Signed: Henry Thornton London
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Henry Thornton was a Liveryman of the clockmakers’’ Company between 1699 and 1732. This watch is in Russian taste, a market in which Thornton specialized. Interestingly, a 1908 inventory by E. Alfred James of the czar’s collection describes three clocks and two watches by Thornton.