English pocket watch with 34-minute carousel Circa 1900

Gold pocket watch by S. Smith & Son
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A heavy, English precision pocket watch with 34-minute carousel – Revolving Lever Escapement, circa 1900. Tested at the Kew Observatory and rated with class A, 88.0 marks especially good.
An 18 Carat gold, tiered, polished case with a gold dome, and case maker punch mark SS (Samuel Smith, London). A signed, numbered, enamel, off-white (Willis) dial with radial Roman hours, centre seconds, and blued spade hands. And a chatoned, frosted, gilt 3/4 plate movement with gold screw compensation balance, blued free-sprung balance spring, and chatoned diamond endstone on balance.
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Diameter:55 mm
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Weight: 159 g
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Signed: S. Smith & Son, 9 Strand, London
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S. Smith & Son, Makers to the Admiralty & the Indian Government
A leading firm in London for high quality and complicated watches at the turn of the century, S. Smith & Son was founded in 1851 by the jeweller and watchmaker Samuel Smith.
In addition to the wide range of watches and clocks for private customers, Smith’s also built reliable chronometers, making the firm a supplier to the Admiralty. Under the management of Herbert S.A. Smith, the firm developed into a large manufacturing company that had its own research laboratories; in the next generation, Sir Alan Herbert Smith extended the company product range further and began with the production of automobile and aircraft instruments. Around this time, a period of general decline for British horology began; even so, a few British watchmakers created magnificent, ultra-complicated watches to prove to the world that they were still the best. Some of these watches were made in collaboration with the most renowned Swiss watch companies. Charles Frodsham, Edward John Dent, and Samuel Smith were the London watchmakers best known for this and J. W. Player in Coventry.
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Even among all the British GrandComplication watches of the 20th century, this watch stands out. Its dial was made by the famous British maker Willis, whose dials are always outstanding. The movement is equally exceptional. It is large and has a very cleverly designed mechanism; it often utilizes the same arbour in the quadrature for two functions and is finished with extreme attention to detail. Some of the solutions, although not new, employ innovative ideas. Thus, the mechanism disengages the striking while setting the watch planned in a simple yet very secure manner.