English gold repeating pocket chronometer watch Circa 1840

Repeater with spring detent escapement by George Moore
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A fine 1/8 repeating English pocket chronometer with spring detent escapement, circa 1840.
18 Carat gold, tiered, polished case with engraved and engine-turned gold dome and case maker’s punch mark LC (Louis Comptesse, Soho, London).  Off-white enamel dial, numbered and signed, Geo(rg)e Moore, 23 Percival St(ree)t, London, No. 505,  with radial Roman hours, auxiliary seconds, and blued Fleur de Lys hands. Full plate movement, keywind, frosted, gilt, numbered and signed, with two hammers / two gongs, chain/fusee, screwed chatons, spring detent escapement according to Thomas Earnshaw, gold screw compensation balance, free-sprung blued balance spring, fine florally engraved, pierced balance cock with mythical creature, and chatoned diamond endstone on balance.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Weight: 151 g
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Signed: George Moore, London
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George Moore (1814-1894) of 23 Percival Street in Clerkenwell lived at that address until 1859; from 1860 until 1872 he worked at 21 St. John’s Square in Clerkenwell had taken over the company F.B. Adams & Sons. From 1884 on he was a partner in the company Charles Frodsham at 84 Strand for some time – this is not surprising, as his son George John Moore was a son-in-law of Charles Frodsham. He had married Hannah Mill Frodsham (born on December 7, 1839) on April 16, 1868, and they had two children; he also received a bequest from the estate of Frodsham’s wife Elizabeth.
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The maker of the gold case was Louis Comtesse at 10 East Street, Red Lion Square. Comtesse had first registered a mark (incuse) as “goldworker” on November 8, 1804; at the time he was working at 13 Batemans Buildings in Soho, where he remained until 1827. In this case, the “cameo mark” was registered on March 5, 1840, and was Comtesse’s last mark.