English silver open faced cylinder pocket watch Circa 1850

Silver pocket watch by John Roger Arnold
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A rare English silver open faced cylinder pocket watch, circa 1812-1888. Full plate movement, chain and fusee, a cylinder escapement, temperature compensated balance spring and three arm steel balance. White enamel dial with Roman hours, an outer minute track and spade & whip hands. The later case with an engine turned back and central, engraved blank cartouche, a reeded band, maker’s mark WHY. Dial signed, movement signed and numbered.
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Diameter: 51 mm
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Weight: 125 g
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Signed: Jn. R. Arnold London
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John Roger Arnold was born in 1769. He was the son of renowned British horologist John Arnold. He served an apprenticeship with both his father in 1783 and the eminent French watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet in Paris in 1792. In 1787, John Roger and his father founded the company, Arnold & Son. The younger Arnold became a member of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1796 and became a master in 1817. After his father died in 1799, he continued the business, taking up a partnership with E.J. Dent in 1830. The two craftsmen experimented heavily during their work together, in particular, they concentrated on the effects of magnetism on chronometers. Dent left Arnold in 1840, whereupon Arnold continued working on his own but died only three years later. Charles Frodsham bought the business after Arnold’s death in February 1843 and it flourished until 1858 under the name Arnold & Frodsham.