English gold and enamel center seconds cylinder Circa 1770

Gold and enamel centre seconds cylinder watch
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An English fine gold and enamel open faced centre seconds cylinder pocket watch, circa 1770. Gilded full plate movement, cylinder escapement, applied pierced and engraved foliate decoration surrounding the matching large balance cock, diamond endstone, fusee and chain, sun and planet maintaining power, square baluster pillars, the stop lever acting on balance amplitude control pin, signed John Kentish Jun^r.
White enamel dial, subsidiary dial for time indication with Roman numerals, outer Arabic minute ring, blued steel beetle & poker hands, blued steel centre seconds indicating to outer Arabic ring, signed John Kentish Jun^r, London.
The case back centred with a pink enamel plaque painted en grisaille with symbols of everlasting love and fidelity, the panel surrounded by cross palm fronds and a tied ribbon in imperial blue basse taille enamel within engine turning and bordered by white enamel, both bezels decorated with translucent blue enamel flowers and foliage interspersed by white enamel fronds, winding shutter to the border of the central plaque with lever adjacent to the hinge, stop slide beneath the bezel adjacent to 20 second numeral, case maker’s mark HT incuse probably for Henry Cleaver Taylor or possibly Henry Teague
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Diameter: 58 mm
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Signed: John Kentish Jun^r London
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This watch is made by John Kentish Junior. The quality movement and dial are notable for the clarity of its design, with hours and minutes contained within a subsidiary dial, thereby devoting the greater part of the dial to the seconds hand and its ring which is calibrated to fifths of a second. A lever beneath the bezel at the 20-second numeral acts directly on the amplitude-controlling pin on the balance staff, thereby allowing the seconds hand to be started and stopped. This permits the watch to be accurately set to a time or used as a timer. Interestingly, although this watch and no. 1073 have cases by different makers, they are of a remarkably similar design and both feature a special shuttered, lever operated, winding aperture.

John Kentish Junior was active between 1758 and 1774.  During the 1760s, he formed a partnership with John Adam Mangaar (1746-1809) and William Allman. The partnership was based at Storey’s Gate, Westminster, London but was dissolved in 1772. In 1774 Kentish was declared bankrupt but he continued to work as a watchmaker until 1798.
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A grisaille (en grisaille), or grey painting, is a painting in which one does not apply natural colours but restricts oneself to depicting things in all possible shades of the same colour, usually grey or brown.
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Basse taille is an enamelling technique in which the artist creates a low relief pattern in metal, usually silver or gold, by engraving or chasing. The entire pattern is created in such a way that its highest point is lower than the surrounding metal. A translucent enamel is then applied to the metal, allowing light to reflect from the relief and creating an artistic effect. It was used in the late Middle Ages and then again in the 17th century.