English 18K yellow gold full hunter pocket watch Circa 1890

Yellow gold lever watch
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An English 18 carat yellow gold hunting cased pocket watch made by Barraud & Lunds in London, circa 1890. This watch has a mechanical manual wound movement with a lever escapement, crown winding system and pin pusher hand setting mechanism on the case band. The white enamel dial shows bold black Roman numeral hour markers, a simple outer minute track, sunken 30 hour power reserve indicator at 12 o’clock and matching sunken subsidiary seconds at 6. It is numbered and signed Barraud & Lunds Cornhill London, and paired with blued steel spade hands.
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The substantial three body case features a finely reeded, gadrooned band and hinged front lid decorated with a radiating engine turned barley grain pattern. It further has a deeply fluted winding crown and an oval bow ring on a cylindrical stem.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Weight: 147 g
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Signed: Barraud & Lunds Cornhill London
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Barraud & Lunds was a renowned and luxurious watch brand in 19th century London. Located at 41 Cornhill, in the financial district, they produced handcrafted pocket watches and marine chronometers that were among the world’s finest, competing with esteemed English makers like Dent and Charles Frodsham [41 Cornhill].
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The company’s origins date back to the 1750s with Francis-Gabriel Barraud, a French Huguenot watchmaker. His son, Paul Philip Barraud, achieved an early breakthrough around 1800 by creating highly accurate marine chronometers for navigation. The brand’s most famous period began in 1838 when the Barraud brothers teamed up with skilled watchmaker John Richard Lund, forming the name Barraud & Lunds. Unlike other brands that moved to mass production during the Victorian era, Barraud & Lunds upheld elite quality through complex traditional techniques, such as the chain driven fusee. They also merged tradition with modern innovation, notably when in 1871 Lund patented a keyless winding system allowing watches to be wound via the crown rather than a separate key.
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Today, surviving pieces with the Barraud & Lunds signature from Cornhill are rare collector’s items symbolising the golden age of British watchmaking.