English gold pair cased quarter repeating watch Circa 1790

Pink gold verge quarter repeater
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An English 18 carat pink gold pair cased quarter repeating pocket watch, circa 1790. Gilt full plate movement, a pierced and engraved balance cock, silver regulator disc and verge escapement, repeating on a bell. White enamel dial, Arabic numerals and partially blued gilt spade hands. A pierced and engraved inner case. Quarter repeating is activated by depressing the gold pendant. Dial, dust cap and movement signed.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Weight: 120 g
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Signed: Eardley Norton London
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The outer case is missing.
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Eardley Norton was an English watch and chronometer maker of great repute born in 1728 in Lincolnshire and died in 1792. He apprenticed as a clockmaker on 25 May 1743 to Robert Dawson of Alford, in 1760, he was working in London at 49 St. John Street, Clerkenwell and was a member of the Clockmakers’ Company from 1770 until he died. He mainly made complicated timepieces but also had his name on some cheaper watches, which he signed with Yeldrae (Eardley backwards). His name was further sometimes faked on Swiss watches. In 1771, he patented a new type of striking mechanism for clocks and watches. For George III he made a Royal watch collection of which the showpiece was an astronomical clock with four dials. Norton received 1.042 pounds sterling for these watches, a considerable sum at that time. Another notable work is the musical clock he made for the Russian Tsarina Katharina.
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Reference 0025000