Live Auction 2366Important Watches
CHARLES FRODSHAM. A FINE AND RARE 18K GOLD OPENFACE TOURBILLON KEYLESS LEVER POCKET WATCH WITH UP-AND-DOWN INDICATOR
Lot 365

CHARLES FRODSHAM. A FINE AND RARE 18K GOLD OPENFACE TOURBILLON KEYLESS LEVER POCKET WATCH WITH UP-AND-DOWN INDICATOR

SIGNED CHAS. FRODSHAM, AD FMSZ, BY APPOINTMENT TO THE KING, 115 NEW BOND ST., LATE OF 84 STRAND, LONDON, NO. 08991, 1904

Closed14 December 2010

Price Realised

USD 62,500

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CHARLES FRODSHAM. A FINE AND RARE 18K GOLD OPENFACE TOURBILLON KEYLESS LEVER POCKET WATCH WITH UP-AND-DOWN INDICATOR
SIGNED CHAS. FRODSHAM, AD FMSZ, BY APPOINTMENT TO THE KING, 115 NEW BOND ST., LATE OF 84 STRAND, LONDON, NO. 08991, 1904
Gilt-finished three-quarter plate fusée and chain movement with raised barrel engraved with Honour cyphers, the steel three-arm Nielsen type 1 tourbillon carriage with double roller lever escapement and cut bi-metallic compensation balance, glazed cuvette, silvered matte dial with Roman numerals, blued steel spade hands, large subsidiary seconds, up-and-down (wind indicator) below twelve o'clock, heavy polished case with triple-stepped bezel, turning pendant, five-joint knuckle, raised push, dial and movement signed and numbered, case stamped with maker's mark HMF (Harrison Mill Frodsham) and London date mark for 1904
59mm diam.

Specialist note

Accompanied by Charles Frodsham certificate of origin and copies of the Kew Register of Watches Received and Dispatched, and an Abstract of the Results.

The Kew register confirms that watch No. 08991 was submitted 4 times gaining its highest mark of 90.1, "Especially Good" in the 1905 testing. It was subsequently placed 9th in the Kew order of merit in that year.

Charles Frodsham (1810-1871) was a leading manufacture of high quality clocks, watches, chronometers and regulators. At the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, Frodsham exhibited a new three-quarter plate calibre signed with the letters "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. The firm thereafter used the code for its most important timepieces.

We are indebted to The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London for their valuable assistance withresearchingthis watch.