English gilt-metal and horn pair-cased clock watch Circa 1760

Gilt, horn verge clock watch by the firm of Markham, Marwick, Perigal
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A rare English gilt metal and horn pair-cased clock watch, circa 1740-1780. Made for the Ottoman market. This watch has a gilt verge movement with an English pierced and engraved balance-cock, and a silver regulator. The white enamel dial displays Ottoman numerals, outer five-minute divisions, and a Louis XVI-style hand, although one hand is missing. The watch has two cases: the outer case is made of gilt metal and horn, which is elaborately engraved and pierced; the inner case is also made of gilt metal and engraved and pierced. The watch was made by the firm of Markham, Marwick, Perigal and is signed on the movement as Marwick, London, 396, and on the face as MARWICK, MARKHAM, PERIGAL, LONDON.
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Diameter: 44 mm
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Signed: Markham, Marwick, Perigal, London
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Markwick Markham. James Markwick and his son James Jr. were 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 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 names.
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Francis Perigal (also Perrigal) was active from about 1770 to his death in 1794. He was admitted as an honorary freeman of the Clockmaker’s Company 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 fine quality. He was succeeded in business by his son.
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One had missing.