Quarter repeating gold and enamel French watch Circa 1790

Gold and enamel quarter repeater pocket watch
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A quarter repeating French cylinder in a gold and enamel case, circa 1790. Gilt keywind movement with suspended going barrel. Lepine-type construction with the going train under one bridge and the repeat train under another. Plain sector cock with polished steel regulator, polished steel cylinder, steel escape wheel. Push pendant quarter repeating on the band of the case. Signed white enamel dial with Arabic numerals, gold beetle and poker hands. Gold and enamel case, the bezels of white and dark blue gilt decorated bands. The back of translucent light blue enamel over an engine-turned ground. In the center a polychrome enamel oval cartouche of a coat of arms. The gold pendant pushed to activate the repeat and twisted to open the sprung back. Wound and set through the signed and numbered gilt metal cuvette.
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Diameter: 44 mm
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Signed: Gregson Hor. du Roy a Paris
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A good example of a late 18th Century continental repeater. The unusual feature of twisting the pendant to release the back in order to wind the watch is of Gregson’s own design. The coat of arms for Thomas Giffard (died 1823) of Chillington in Staffordshire. A remarkably ancient and well-connected family. They received visits from Queen Elizabeth I and James I. They sheltered Charles II at their house ‘Whiteladies’. In Burke’s Peerage of 1845 we find Thomas Giffard married Charlotte Courtenay (died 1844) one of thirteen daughters of William 2nd. Viscount Courtenay of Powderham Castle County Devon. They were married in 1788. Thomas Giffard 1763-1823 was the son of Thomas Giffard of Chillington and Barbara daughter of Sir Robert Throckmorton. His obituary is contained in the Gentleman’s Magazine in which he is described as ‘one of the favored and intimate friends of his present Majesty’ (George IV) ‘who were some say, two of the most accomplished men in Europe’. Giffard left 5 sons and 7 daughters. The Giffard family of Chillington is an ancient one and derives from an earlier coat of arms of Scudamore either through kinship or as the coat of arms of an Overlord.