English silver open faced pocket chronometer Circa 1784 and 1809

Silver chronometer by John Arnold
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An English silver open faced pocket chronometer, circa 1784 and 1809. Gilt full plate fusee movement made in 1784, an early Arnold type spring detent escapement, OZ balance, blued steel helical spring, foliate pierced and engraved balance cock, diamond endstone. Later white enamel dial with Roman hours and outer minute divisions, large subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock. Plain polished consular case, later inner and outer case backs London hallmarked for 1809, stamped with maker’s mark TH for Thomas Hardy. Dial and movement signed and numbered, case numbered. Comes with a fitted mahogany chronometer box, winding key and various documents including correspondence from the owner’s ancestors.
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Diameter: 54 mm
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Signed: Arnold 10 – John Arnold London Invt. Et Fecit No 311
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The three Monkhouse brothers are thought to have been born in Cumbria. John Monkhouse, the middle brother (1760 – 1814) married Jane Tillstone, the eldest daughter of a prominent Rope Maker in the prosperous shipbuilding town of New Shoreham (later known as Worthing). John was recorded as a Captain by the age of around 31 and listed as Gentry in the Universal British Directory of 1791. Richard Monkhouse, his elder brother, was stationed in Whitehaven with his wife, Hannah, and his ship, ‘the Prosperity’. The third brother was Thomas Monkhouse. He died at sea in 1776 and is mentioned in the letter, dated 25^th of May 1777, addressed to John Monkhouse.
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This chronometer is likely to have been the possession of either John or Richard Monkhouse and has remained within the family ever since. It features a John Arnold movement that dates from about 1784 and is quite an early example of an Arnold spring detent escapement. As was often the practice during this period, the case was updated ‘in-house’ by John Roger Arnold and has London hallmarks for 1809. The dial was certainly updated at the same time, as was the mahogany box. Using the tables compiled by Vaudrey Mercer, it would appear that the movement is part of the fourth series – ‘of the second kind’ – as shown in both Vaudrey’s ‘Arnold and Sons’ and also Hans Staeger’s, ‘100 years of precision timekeepers’ (although the present watch is not recorded).
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The various documents included: