English gold pair cased quarter repeating watch Circa 1795

Gold repeating verge watch
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An English 18 carat gold pair cased quarter repeating pocket watch with calendar, circa 1795. White enamel dial, Roman hours, an outer minute track with Arabic five minute numerals, an inner chapter ring for the date and blued gilt spade hands. Gilt full plate movement, a verge escapement, repeating on a bell. Signed on the dial, movement and dust cap, case numbered.
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Diameter: 59 mm
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Signed: Eardley Norton London
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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.