Rare English eight day watch for the Chinese market Circa 1800

Gold, enamel, pearl, and diamond set watch by William Anthony
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A magnificent and rare English gold, enamel, pearl, and diamond set eight day watch with expanding hands and flying quarter seconds made for the Chinese market, circa 1800. This watch features a gilded eight day duration movement that is highly decorated with engraved scrolling foliage, flowers, and a serpent. It has a cylinder escapement, a polished flat three arm balance, and a large decoratively engraved hanging barrel. The white enamel dial has Roman numerals, an outer minute track with linear minute markers, star form indications for the five minute markers, and dots at the half minutes. It includes subsidiary dials for seconds below 12 o’clock and flying quarter seconds at 6 o’clock. The gold hands are unusual, expanding and contracting within the long and short axis of the dial.
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The gold case has a back with translucent blue enamel over engine turning, while the bezels, pendant, and bow feature double rows of split pearls. The back also has a rose diamond set motif within an oval frame of oval split pearls. The case maker’s mark is PD for Peter Desvignes. Additionally, it has a gilt metal hinged cuvette with two apertures with corresponding engraved illustrations of a horse pulling a rope indicating the direction of the wind and a pair of watch hands beside the offset handset square.
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Length including pendant: 97 mm
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Signed: William Anthony, London
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The watch case has a small restoration area on the outside band at 2 o’clock. All diamonds and pearls are intact. However, there is a chip at 9 o’clock and a scratch on the subsidiary dial at 6 o’clock.
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William Anthony (1765–1844) worked at Red Lion Street and St. John’s Square in London. In 1815, he helped found the Watch and Clockmakers’ Benevolent Association. However, after 1815, Anthony’s business declined. This was partly due to his expensive purchase of Royal and other wardrobes from the time of King Charles I, which he exhibited at Somerset Gallery. Unfortunately, the exhibition had poor attendance. His business also suffered due to unsuccessful litigation with Grimaldi & Johnson. When he died, it was discovered that he had a substantial lease on the Doughty Estate but had failed to collect rent for the past 20 years, and the lease had almost expired at the time of his death.
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William Anthony specialised in luxurious watches designed specifically for the Chinese market. He is particularly renowned for his intricate, oval shaped timepieces. Anthony’s oval watches typically feature dials divided into two separate sections, with small subsidiary dials showing hours and minutes above and seconds below. The watch in question is an exceptional example of one of Anthony’s rarest and most remarkable oval watches. It is equipped with articulated hands that adjust in length to smoothly follow the oval chapter ring calibrated for hours and minutes at the edge of the dial. An oval cam at the centre of the dial causes the hands to expand and contract as they move around the dial, ensuring that the hands’ lengths remain proportional to the varying distances between the dial’s centre and its chapter ring, regardless of the time of day.