English 18K gold chronometer with Breguet dial Circa 1780
- Kenmerk
- SA0959
- Diameter
- 56 mm
- Estimate
- € 25.000 - 50.000
- Price sold
- -
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A fine and very rare English yellow gold open faced pocket chronometer with Breguet type dial and case made by Jean-Louis Joly, circa 1780, gilt full plate movement, fuse for the going train, Harrison’s maintaining power, pivoted detent escapement, gilt brass three arm balance with double S Arnold and Emery type compensation, gold helical spring.
White enamel Breguet type dial, Arabic numerals, subsidiary dial for constant seconds, blued steel Breguet hands.
18k Yellow gold polished consular case, movement signed Josiah Emery, Charing Cross, London, dial signed, case with maker’s mark JJL (Jean-Louis Joly).
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Diameter: 56 mm
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Signed: Josiah Emery Charing Cross London
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Josiah Emery was born in Geneva in 1725. By 1762 he had settled in London. He is best known as a pioneer of the lever escapement, being the first maker to use the escapement after Thomas Mudge. Count von Bruhl, Ambassador to Britain for the Count of Saxony, was instrumental in introducing Emery to Mudge’s work and encouraging him in the production of the lever escapement. A renowned maker of extremely fine watches he made a few precision timepieces prior to taking up his pioneering work with the lever escapement.
This watch, no 847 is one of only four precision watches know by Josiah Emery with a pivoted detent escapement. The other examples know are no’s 781 (in the British Museum collection), no 875 (in a private collection) and no 888 (in a private collection). Heavily influenced by John-Roger Arnold’s work at the time, the escapement of these watches is very similar to that of Arnold’s. The use of these early pocket chronometers remains unknown but they were very expensive piece which was almost certainly owned by wealthy fashion conscious gentlemen. When first made, no 847 would have had a typical Emery-type white enamel dial and 18k gold consular case made by Valentine Walker. In 1797 the watch received an upgrade; this is evident by the replaced main spring marked April 97. The old compensation was replaced by the Arnold/Emery type double S arrangement which was designed to fit the original balance. The flat spiral balance spring was changed for the gold helical spring. It is possible this work was carried out by Arnold, as the gold helical springs were favoured by the Arnolds at this time (Emery had died in 1794).
This watch underwent a further fascinating transformation upon transfer to the workshop of Arnold’s friend Abraham Louis Breguet in France. In around 1800 the watch was fitted with a new high quality Breguet type dial by Jean-Antoine Borel (marked on the counter enamel), blued steel demi lune hands, and an exceptionally fine gold consular case made by Breguet’s principal case maker Jean-Louis Joly.
Signed: Josiah Emery Charing Cross London
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