Early English silver pair cased rack lever watch Circa 1795

Early silver pair cased rack lever watch
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An early English silver pair cased rack lever watch, circa 1795, gilded full plate movement, rack lever escapement, decoratively pierced and engraved bell-shaped balance cock, foot marked ‘Patent’, plain flat balance with Bosleyregulation, diamond endstone, fusee and chain, cylindrical pillars, signed P. Litherland and Co., Liverpool.
White enamel dial, radial Arabic numerals, outer minute ring, pink gold arrow form hands.
Plain silver inner case, aperture to back for winding, regency pendant and bow, plain sliver outer, both cases hallmarked London 1795 and with maker’s mark JW incuse for Joseph Wilkes.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Signed: P. Litherland and Co. Liverpool
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Peter Litherland (1756 – 1804) was born in Warrington and in 1791 took out his first patent for the rack lever escapement. In the introduction to his second patent of 1792, he wrote: “…an entire escapement to be applied to watches…for use on sea or land…producing greater certainty of time than any hitherto invented being more simple and less likely to be out of repair…especially for ascertaining the longitude at sea at much less expense than those now used”. Hallmarked for 1795 and numbered 69, this is very early example of the rack lever. Litherland died in 1804 but rack lever watches continued to be made for another 30 years or so by a variety of different makers including Roskell, predominantly in Lancashire. Further information on Peter Litherland and the rack lever can be found by the following authors in the corresponding Antiquarian Horology issues: Vaudrey Mercer, June 1962.