English gold verge made for the Ottoman market Circa 1810

Gold and enamel verge in triple cases by Markwick Markham & Perigal
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A rare English gold and enamel triple-cased quarter repeating verge pocket watch made for the Ottoman market, circa 1810. Full plate movement, key wind, two hammers, three-arm steel balance. White enamel dial with radial Ottoman numerals, gold poker & beetle hands. The outer case has partly open work bezels, opaque pink and light blue enamelling with floral elements and a glazed back, diamond-set pusher and a rear bell, the back of the intermediate case has translucent blue enamel bezels and a polychrome enamel miniature in the centre showing old ruins in a lavish summer countryside, the rim similarly ornamented as that of the outer case, a bi-colour champlevé flower decorated scalloped edge, the motif repeated on the back of the pierced and engraved inner case. Dial signed, movement signed and numbered.
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Diameter: 61 mm
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Weight: 209 g
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Signed: Markwick Markham – Perigal London
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Markwick Markham. James Markwick and his son James Jr. were both fine watchmakers and worked in London. The elder was apprenticed on 25 June 1656 to Richard Taylor and subsequently to Edward Gilpin. He became free of the Clockmakers’ Company on 6 August 1666. Six apprentices were bound to him between 1674 and 1699. In 1673, he succeeded the business of Samuel Betts behind the Royal Exchange. Although he held office in the Clockmakers’ Company, he was irregular in attendance, ceasing to tend to its affairs after 1700. He worked until at least 1706. His son, James Markwick Jr., became free of the Company in 1692 by patrimony. The younger James Markwick was an eminent maker, Master of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1720 and a very early user of jewelled bearings. Later, he was in partnership with his son-in-law Robert Markham, who succeeded him using the trading name of Markwick Markham, which became famous for watches destined for the Turkish market. Not only did this notoriety encourage the appearance of spuriously signed watches, but at the end of the century, Markham, or his successor, associated the names of other watchmakers with their own products intended for the East. The makers thus found associated are Francis Perigal, Peter Upjohn, H. Story, Borrell, John Johnson, Louis Recordon and Dupont. All were reputable watchmakers in their own right, selling other products under their own names.
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Francis Perigal (also Perrigal) was active from about 1770 to the time of his death in 1794. He was admitted as an honorary freeman of the Clockmaker’s Company in 1781. A maker of fine and interesting watches, he made a very early lever watch which, having been re-cased, can only be dated by the signature: “Watchmaker to the King”. This appointment was conferred upon him in 1784. Little is known of Perigal, but the few surviving watches bearing his name are of considerable mechanical interest and of fine quality. He was succeeded in business by his son.