English quarter repeater cylinder coach watch Circa 1753

Exceptional and large quarter repeating cylinder coach watch
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An English rare, exceptional and large pair cased quarter repeating cylinder coach watch, circa 1753, gilded full plate movement, cylinder escapement, decoratively pierced balance cock engraved with foliage, birds’ and dolphins’ heads, a mask at the neck, broad foot similarly decorated, three-arm steel balance, diamond endstone, fusee and chain, cylindrical pillars, hammers repeating on a bell to the inside case back, the quarters sounded by a single blow from the quarter hammer, gilded dust cap, signed Thos. Hally, London.
White enamel dial, Roman numerals, outer Arabic minute ring, blued steel beetle and poker hands.
Silver inner case, slide beneath bezel at 8 o’clock to select repetition for either hours only or hours and quarters, the band pierced and engraved with a bird, a dog, two dolphins’ heads, a walled town beneath the pendant, and a grotesque mask at the base, pendant with a ridged edged bow, the silver outer case with similarly pierced decoration, the back centered with the engraved arms of John Carmichael, pulse piece to the band below 6 o’clock, both cases with maker’s mark AM incuse with a star between possibly for Andrew Moreton.
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Diameter: 103 mm
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Signed: Thos. Hally London
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The pierced and engraved decoration to the case of this watch is exceptionally well executed and there is an especially characterful grotesque mask to the base of the inner case. To the back of the outer case, the arms, which are elaborately rendered, are those of John Carmichael (1701-1767), third Earl of Hyndford, a successful Scottish diplomat who was an envoy to Russia, Prussia and Vienna. Carmichael was also the Sheriff of Lanark from 1739 and a member of the Privy Council in 1750. The King of Prussia presented Carmichael with a silver dinner service and he was permitted to use the Royal Prussian Arms.
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Although little has been written about Thomas Hally, he was a maker of both clocks and watches and it would appear that he was well connected to the Scottish aristocracy. Several clocks by Hally are owned by the Duke of Atholl at Blair Castle and a further long case clock by this maker is at the House of the Binns, the seat of the Dalyell family. Unusually the movement has a slide to the bezel at 8 o’clock for selecting the type of repetition required: when the slide is in the upward position, the watch strikes the hours with a double blow and the quarters with a single blow, whilst in the downward position, only the hours are sounded.