English silver single cased two-train alarm verge Circa 1740

Fine silver single cased two-train alarm verge watch
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An English fine silver single cased two-train alarm verge watch, circa 1740, gilded full plate movement, verge escapement, decoratively pierced and engraved balance cock, diamond endstone, flat steel three-arm balance, fusee and chain, cylindrical pillars, the alarm train with a standing barrel, acting on a bell to the inside of case back, signed Delander, London.
Silver champlevé dial, Roman numerals with half-hour divisions between and to the ring beneath, outer Arabic minute ring, inner rotating alarm disc with female setting square at 6 o’clock, winding apertures for the going at 8 and alarm at 4 o’clock, blued steel beetle and poker hands.
A silver single case, the back engraved with the Arms of James Helsby and Latin motto: “En Dieu est Mon Esperance” above inscription “James Helsby, Gent”, the band pierced for sound emission and engraved with scrolling foliage and three grotesque masks at the quarters, a shell by the thumb-piece, the bezel similarly pierced and engraved with scrolling foliage, stirrup pendant and bow.
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Diameter: 47 mm
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Signed: Delander London
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The movement of this watch is signed ‘Delander’ and was sold by Nathaniel, Daniel’s son and successor. Nathaniel Delander, was recorded at the Royal Exchange in London in the 1730s and Fleet Street in 1755. Nathaniel became a Freeman of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1721, was master in 1747 and died in 1762. The arms and motto of James Helsby of Helsby, Cheshire, are recorded in Fairbairn’s Book of Crests, Heraldry Today, 1984.

Daniel Delander was born c. 1678 and apprenticed in April 1692 to Charles Halsted before transferring to Thomas Tompion. He was free of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1699. Delander took on a number of apprentices and it is believed he died in 1733. Although Delander did not produce many watches, they always appear to have been made to an exceptional standard.