Fine and rare English gold and enamel clock watch Circa 1796

Gold and enamel clock watch made for the Turkish market
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A fine and rare gold and enamel pair-cased clock watch made for the Turkish market, circa 1796.
Gilt full plate verge movement, pierced and engraved balance cock, diamond endstone set in a screwed chaton, engraved decoration on half plate, striking repeating clock watch mechanism on a bell for hours and quarters, signed and numbered Markwick Markham, Borrel. White enamel dial, Turkish numerals, “Fleur de Lys” gold hands, signed Markwick Markham, Perigal London. The inner case pierced and engraved with scrolls to the band, the back with a polychrome enamel decoration of flowers, outer ring with blue and turquoise enamel, the edge with cartouches of military trophies, pierced outer case with a polychrome enamel of military trophies on translucent deep purple enamel, gilt foliate swags, turquoise, sky blue and white surround, the pierced and enamelled band with chequer-board pattern, blue enamel vignettes of the Sultan Ahmet Camii Mosque, diamond-set push piece, dial and movement signed, case maker VW, hallmark London 1796.
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Diameter: 50 mm
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Weight: 128 g
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Signed: Markwick Markham London
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James Markwick, Markwick Markham & Perigal James Markwick and his son James were both fine watchmakers and worked in London. The elder was apprenticed on 25 June 1656 to Richard Taylor, and subsequently to Edward Gilpin. He became free of the Clockmakers’ Company on 6 August 1666. Six apprentices were bound to him between 1674 and 1699. In 1673 he succeeded the business of Samuel Betts behind the Royal Exchange. Although he held office in the Clockmakers’ Company, he was irregular in attendance, ceasing to tend to its affairs after 1700. He worked until at least 1706. His son, James Markwick Jr., became free of the Company in 1692 by patrimony. The younger James Markwick was an eminent maker, Master of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1720 and a very early user of jeweled bearings. In later years he was in partnership with his son-in-law Robert Markham, who succeeded him using the trading name of Markwick Markham, which became famous for watches destined for the Turkish market. Not only did this notoriety encourage the appearance of spuriously signed watches, but at the end of the century Markham, or his successor, associated the names of other watchmakers with their own products intended for the East. The makers thus found associated are: Francis Perigal, Peter Upjohn, H. Story, Borrell, John Johnson, Louis Recordon, Dupont. All were reputable watch-makers in their own right, selling other products under their own names. Francis Perigal (also Perrigal) was active from about 1770 to the time of his death in 1794. He was admitted as honorary freeman of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1781. A maker of fine and interesting watches, he made a very early lever watch which, having been recased, can only be dated by the signature: “Watchmaker to the King”. This appointment was conferred upon him in 1784. Little is known of Perigal, but the few surviving watches bearing his name are of considerable mechanical interest and of fine quality. He was succeeded in business by his son.