Gold English verge with date by George Graham Circa 1713

Very fine gold pair cased verge watch with date
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A  very fine gold English pair cased verge watch with date, circa 1713, gilded full plate movement, verge escapement, decoratively pierced and floral engraved balance cock with classical female head at the neck, flat three-arm balance with spring, fusee and chain, Egyptian pillars, signed Geo. Graham, 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, aperture for date above 6 o’clock, banners to the dial center surrounded by floral swags and signed Graham, London.
Plain gold inner case, the back with shuttered winding aperture, stirrup pendant and bow, rubbed hallmarks for London 1713 or 1714, maker’s mark WS incuse for William Sherwood, plain outer case with maker’s mark IW incuse probably for John Willoughby.
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Diameter: 57 mm
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Signed: Geo. Graham London
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As Thomas Tompion’s partner and successor, George Graham continued their watch numbering series when the former died in 1713. Research suggests that the present watch may be the earliest surviving Graham watch that is hallmarked and remains complete, although a repeating watch (no. 402) which is also hallmarked 1713 is recorded.

Following Tompion’s death, Graham continued the exceptional standards of watchmaking that he and his former partner had established. As this watch demonstrates, Graham also employed an excellent dial engraver and continued to use William Sherwood, whom Tompion had engaged from the late 1690s, for some of his cases.