Important English gold quarter repeater Circa 1708-1709

Important gold quarter repeating verge by Tompion
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An important English gold pair cased quarter repeating verge watch, circa 1708-1709, gilded full plate movement, verge escapement, decoratively pierced and floral engraved balance cock, flat steel three-arm balance with spring, the balance with pierced ruby bearings to top and bottom and with polished countersinks above and below, diamond endstone, further diamond endstone in dovetail piece to bottom potence, unusual gilt-brass screw-set cap to cock, fusee and chain, Egyptian and round baluster pillars, repeating with two polished steel hammers on a bell to the inside of the case, signed T. Tompion, London.
Gold champlevé dial, Roman numerals with half hour divisions between and to the ring beneath, outer Arabic minute ring, blued steel beetle and poker hands, cartouches to the dial centre, the upper having putti holding garlands of flowers, signed Tompion, London.
Gold inner case with pierced band for sound emission decoratively engraved with foliage inhabited by birds, a pastoral scene beneath the pendant and a pair of trumpeting angels either side of a scene of a fisherman beside a lake at the base, stirrup bow and plunge pendant, hallmarked 1708 and with maker’s mark WS incuse for William Sherwood, gold outer case, the back with decoratively pierced decoration engraved with foliage, birds, dolphins, a grotesque mask, a classical head, two winged putti either side of a pastoral scene by the thumb piece, two winged half figures either side of a scene of a fisherman beside a lake at the square hinge, bezel further pierced and engraved with foliage and birds, pulse piece to the band by 5 o’clock, hallmarked 1709 and with maker’s mark WS incuse for William Sherwood.
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Diameter: 56 mm
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Signed: T. Tompion, London
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This watch is a very rare gold quarter repeating watch by Tompion. Research suggests that it may be one of the earliest of his watches to have endstones and, indeed, one of the earliest hallmarked examples with endstones.The unusual cap to the balance cock was no doubt added by Tompion as a means to conceal his jewelling from prying eyes. The movement has Tompion’s own form of repeating work which is operated from the pendant and strikes a bell to the inside case back. Tompion’s repeating work is described and illustrated in G. H. Baillie, Watches, their History, Decoration and Mechanism.

Interestingly, if one analyses the 50 or so repeating watches by Tompion which are listed by Jeremy Evans in his book, “Thomas Tompion at the Dial and Three Crowns”, and exclude those watches which have one or both cases missing, later cases and/or dials, there remain less than half a dozen gold examples extant. Interestingly, quarter repeating Tompion no. 308, which is the closest number to the present watch, is illustrated as a movement only in H. Marryat’s book, “Henlein to Tompion”.