Gold repeater with dual wheel duplex escapement Circa 1824

Quarter repeating duplex with two escapement wheels by Urban Jürgensen
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A heavy Danish gold quarter repeating gentleman’s pocket watch with dual wheel duplex escapement, circa 1824.
Gold plated movement of the highest quality, two-wheel duplex escapement with a brass and steel wheel, screwed ruby ​​endstone, temperature compensation on the spring, brass balance with flat blued feather, blued screws, polished steel parts, triggering the repetition through the pendant, two hammers on two gongs, repetition can be blocked with a slider above the 1. White enamel dial with Arabic numerals, the big decentralized second without numbers, two more pocket watches of Jürgensen are equipped with this second: Krusenstern Chronometer and Tourbillon, and blued Breguet hands. Solid empire guilloché case. Gold plated, signed and numbered cuvette.
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Diameter: 59 mm
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Weight: 187 g
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Signed: No 606 Urban Jürgensen Dronningens Tvergade No 277 Kiobenhavn
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Urban Jürgensen, son of the royal watchmaker Jürgen Jürgensen, born in 1776 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Urban was a major Danish watch and chronometer maker. He also was a watchmaker to the King of Denmark. At the age of 20, he works in Switzerland, Neuchâtel and Geneva. In 1797 he travels to Le Locle, where he worked with Jacques-Frédéric Houriet. From Le Locle, he travelled to Paris. In Paris, the houses of Abraham Louis Breguet and Ferdinand Berthoud were open to him based on recommendations. Later he went to John Arnold in London to perfect his knowledge of the construction of marine chronometers. In 1801 he returned to Copenhagen and founded a company for the production of marine chronometers with Etienne Magnin. Urban Jürgensen was the first watchmaker to become a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences. The Danish King Friedrich VI appointed him a royal watchmaker and awarded him the title of ‘Royal Sea Watchmaker’ with the exclusive right to supply the Admiralty with chronometers. Upon his return to Denmark, he began, at the request of the Danish government, the production of these instruments, which are so important to the shipping industry. Urban Jürgensen introduced numerous innovations, such as a special chronometer escapement with two escapement wheels (dual wheel duplex escapement). He was the first to produce cylindrical steel wheels. Between 1811 and 1830, around 700 pocket watches, 45 marine chronometers and 6 precision pendulum clocks were made in his workshops. Jürgensen died in 1830.
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This watch bears the number 606, which corresponds to the year of origin 1824. An identical watch (case and dial, but movement with tourbillon) is illustrated and described in detail in the book: John M.R. Knudsen ‘Urban Jürgensen & Sonner’, Copenhagen 2003.