Large English gold one minute tourbillon lever Circa 1910

Gold open faced one minute tourbillon lever watch by Charles Frodsham
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A very fine, large and rare English 18 carat gold open faced one minute tourbillon keyless lever watch with Guillaume balance, circa 1910. Gilt finished 3/4 plate double roller lever movement, raised barrel engraved with Honour cyphers, three armed tourbillon carriage, glazed dust cover. Tinted enamel dial with Roman numerals and sunk subsidiary seconds. Heavy plain case, raised push, five knuckle hinges, turning pendant. Case numbered and stamped with casemaker’s initials HMF for Harrison Mill Frodsham and London date letter for 1910, dial and movement and numbered.
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Diameter: 65 mm
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Signed: Chas. Frodsham 09364 AD.Fmsz By Appointment to the King 115 New Bond Street London
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The present watch pays tribute to the genius and inventive spirit of the celebrated Charles Frodsham, one of the leading manufacturers of high quality clocks, watches and chronometers in the 19th century and early 20th century. 
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Charles Frodsham (born 18 April 1810), was apprenticed for seven years to his father William Frodsham, an established London clockmaker, at the age of 14. At twenty, he distinguished himself by submitting one of his first marine chronometers to the Premium trials at Greenwich Observatory, receiving the second prize of 170. In 1834 he was made a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. Shortly after and doubtless encouraged by his recent successes, Charles ventured out on his own establishing his business in London, where he soon gained an enviable reputation for the manufacture of precision timekeepers, as a supplier of marine chronometers to the Admiralty, regulators to the world’s observatories, and as a provider of fine watches to discerning clients worldwide. He later acquired the three prestigious businesses of J.R. Arnold, Vulliamy and William Johnson late of Grimalde & Johnson. In 1854 Charles was granted the Royal Warrant and made Superintendent and Keeper of Her Majesty’s clocks. For over 130 years Charles Frodsham & Co. were responsible for the maintenance of the Royal clocks and remained the last independent firm permitted to have workshops in Buckingham Palace.
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Throughout the second half of the 19th century the firm participated at all the major international exhibitions, including, Paris, Philadelphia, Sydney and the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Crystal Palace, where a first class medal was received. In all, Frodshams obtained fourteen medals and diplomas. From 1850 the majority of the finest Frodsham watches were distinguished with the code AD.Fmsz, a cryptogram for the year 1850. The code is formed by the numerical sequence of the letters in ‘Frodsham’, with a ‘Z’ for zero. Many of these pieces were sent to Kew Observatory for rigorous timing tests, attaining consistently high marks, most notably tourbillon watch no. 09182 holding the record for any English watch tested at the Kew Observatory, with a mark of 93.9, in 1906. This watch is now in the celebrated Lord Harris Collection, at Belmont, in Kent.
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In 1893, Charles Frodsham & Co. became a limited company. With the advent of the motor car in the early part of the 20th century, the business expanded with the introduction of speedometers and car clocks. From the late 1940s until the 1980s, the firm concentrated on the manufacture of mantel and carriage clocks, producing amongst others the ‘Princess’ clock presented in 1947 to HRH Princess Elizabeth on the occasion of her marriage. Today Charles Frodsham & Co. proudly maintains the exacting standards and enthusiasm of its founder, Charles Frodsham.
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A detailed account of the life and times of Charles Frodsham and the company can be found in The Frodshams, The Story of a Family of Clockmakers by Vaudrey Mercer, published by The Antiquarian Horological Society, 1981.
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This watch is equiped with a one minute tourbillon and comes with a Kew Observatory Certificate. Archives held by Charles Frodsham & Co. record some 66 tourbillons manufactured and sold by the firm between 1898 and 1934. The majority were open face keyless lever timepieces with up and down indication, usually with a tourbillon carriage of 1-minute rotation. To date, just four watches are recorded as having 6 minute carriages and only one with a 12 minute carriage. Tourbillon watches with additional complications are also recorded; including repeaters, perpetual calendars, chronographs, and clockwatches, with perhaps the most famous group being the watches ordered by the New York financier, John Pierpoint Morgan for presentation as a ‘golden welcome’ to incoming partners of the Morgan bank. These pieces were all to the same specification with minute repeating, and split seconds chronograph with minute recording, in addition to the tourbillon carriage. 40 of the Frodsham tourbillons were sent to the Kew Observatory, and later Teddington, for rigorous testing to gain a coveted Kew ‘A’ certificate. It was not uncommon for a particular watch to be returned to Kew for re-testing, having been re-adjusted by the watchmaker, in order to gain a better mark. So highly regarded was an ‘Especially Good’ certificate from the rigorous 45 day Kew testing (the longest test available in all observatories worldwide), that watchmakers vied to be included in the top watches tested. Tables were produced and published showing the top 50 watches in each particular year. This information was then often used by the watchmakers in their marketing and sales of all their watches. Paul Ditisheim and S. Smith & Sons were particularly vigorous in using the Kew trials for this purpose.