Englisch gold enamel quarter repeating verge Circa 1730

Gold and enamel repeating verge by Thomas Vernon
–
An English quarter repeating verge in gold and enamel pair cases with Chinese style decoration, circa 1730.
Full plate fire gilt movement with turned baluster pillars. Pierced and engraved masked cock, diamond endstone in a blue steel setting, pierced and engraved foot and plate for the silver regulator disc. Fusee and chain with worm and wheel barrel setup between the plates. Plain three arm gilt balance, blue steel spiral hairspring. Push pendant quarter repeating on a bell in the case. White enamel dial with Roman and Arabic numerals, pierced gilt hands. Pierced and engraved 22-carat gold inner case, foliate decoration inhabited by birds and dolphins, gold push pendant. Steel pulse piece to silence the bell. Unusual pierced and engraved 22-carat gold outer case decorated with a Chinese-style scene depicting a pagoda, peacock, fox and rabbits partly overlaid with transparent dark blue enamel—maker’s mark DA.
–
Diameter: 49 mm
–
Weight: 123 g
–
Signed: Thos Vernon London
–
An unusual and rare subject decorating the outer, the watch is probably intended for the Chinese market. Thomas Vernon, Fleet Street, apprenticed 1701, free of the Clockmakers Company 1708 – 1740. Daniel Aveline, 1709 – 1772, was recorded as a watch case maker in Denmark Street, St Giles in the Fields, freeman of the Clockmakers Company in 1768. His mark is often found on fine gold cases, many of them decorative, containing movements by the best English watchmakers of the period. His will is held at the National Archives in Kew.