English quarter repeating repoussé clock watch Circa 1750

Gold pair cased repoussé repeater by John Ellicott 
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An English gold pair cased repoussé quarter repeating pocket watch, circa 1750. This watch features a gilded full plate movement with verge escapement, a pierced and engraved balance cock with a diamond end stone, a flat steel balance, fusee and chain, and hammers striking on a steel bell to the inside case back. It is signed Jn. Ellicott, London, with the cap, also signed Jn Ellicott. The white enamel dial has Roman numerals, an outer Arabic minute track, and Louis XV style hands. The watch has two cases: a gold, pierced and engraved inner case with an aperture for winding, a stirrup pendant and bow, and a decorative boss on the top of the pendant, with a rubbed maker’s mark. The repoussé outer case features a scene depicting Hercules, surrounded by chased and pierced scrollwork, and is stamped JB to the interior.
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Diameter: 50 mm
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Signed: Jn. Ellicott, London
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The outer case shows signs of wear with some pinholes, and the interior is dented around the band. The dial has no visible cracks. The movement was operational when wound at the time of cataloguing, although the repeating mechanism attempts to function but does not strike the bell.
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Please note that the approximate date for this watch is 1750, not 1795 as originally stated.
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John Ellicott (London, 1706 – 1772 ) was an eminent English clock and watchmaker and an inventor of the 18th century. His father, John Ellicott the Elder, a Cornish man, was also a clockmaker admitted to the Clockmakers’ Company in 1696. He died in 1733. John Ellicott the Younger joined his father’s workshop in London in 1728 and became one of the most important watchmakers in England at the time. He conducted business first from Austin Friars Street EC 2 and later from Swithin’s Alley, Royal Exchange. In 1738, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Ellicott showed a keen interest in scientific matters and maintained an observatory at his home in Hackney, parish of St. John, where he observed the planet Venus. He is best known for his work on temperature compensated pendulums which he developed in 1753, he further improved the cylinder escapement and invented the centre second for pocket watches. Ellicott made many bracket clocks, was a clockmaker to King George III and edited several technical papers. He was married and of this marriage, five children were born, two sons, Edward and John, and three unmarried daughters, Deborah, Mary and Elizabeth. His son Edward joined the business in 1760. Over their twelve-year partnership, their clocks were signed Ellicott London. John Ellicott died unexpectedly as a widower in 1772 in Hackney. His son, Edward, continued the workshop. He died in 1791.
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George Michael Moser was born on 17 January 1706 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and died on 24 January 1783 at Somerset House, London. He was a renowned artist and enameller of the 18th century, father of celebrated floral painter Mary Moser and, with his daughter, among the founder members of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. He was the son of Michael Moser, an eminent Swiss engineer and metalworker.

Moser trained initially as a coppersmith in Geneva and later learnt additional skills as a chaser, goldsmith and engraver. He moved to London during the 1720s and married Mary Guynier. Surviving metal works by him include elaborate gold snuffboxes and watch cases (including movements by noted watchmakers George Philip Strigel and John Ellicott, among others) and silver candlesticks in the rococo style. He subsequently rose to be head of his profession as a gold chaser, medallist, and enameller and was particularly distinguished for the compositions in enamel with which he ornamented the backs of watches, bracelets, and other trinkets. A beautiful example of this work was a watch case executed for Queen Charlotte, adorned with whole length figures of her two eldest children, for which he received a hatful of guineas.

Moser was drawing master to George III during his boyhood, and on his accession to the throne was employed to engrave his first great seal. When the art school afterwards known as the St. Martin’s Lane Academy, was established about 1736, in Greyhound Court, Strand, he became manager and treasurer and continued in that position until the school was absorbed into the Royal Academy. When he died he was buried in the churchyard of St Paul’s, Covent Garden. His funeral was attended by almost all his fellow academicians and pupils. On the day after Moser’s death, a notice of him from the pen of Sir Joshua Reynolds was published, in which he was described as the first gold chaser in the kingdom, possessed of a universal knowledge of all branches of painting and sculpture, and ‘in every sense the father of the present race of artists.