Live Auction 1395Important Watches
Edward Tomlin. A fine and rare gilt brass, enamel, pearl and paste-set quarter striking grande sonnerie keywound cylinder clock watch with centre seconds, made for the Chinese market
Lot 198

Edward Tomlin. A fine and rare gilt brass, enamel, pearl and paste-set quarter striking grande sonnerie keywound cylinder clock watch with centre seconds, made for the Chinese market

SIGNED EDW(ARD) TOMLIN, ROYAL EXCHANGE, LONDON, NO. 7146, CIRCA 1780

Closed13 May 2013

Price Realised

CHF 12,500

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Edward Tomlin. A fine and rare gilt brass, enamel, pearl and paste-set quarter striking grande sonnerie keywound cylinder clock watch with centre seconds, made for the Chinese market
Signed Edw(ard) Tomlin, Royal Exchange, London, no. 7146, circa 1780
Gilt-finished cylinder movement finely engraved with floral and scroll decoration, pierced and engraved balance cock with diamond-set endstone, plain three-arm balance, fusée and chain, silver regulation disc, en passant quarter repeating on two hammers onto a bell, gilt brass dust cap, white enamel dial, Roman numerals, gold poker and beetle hands, blued steel centre seconds, outer Arabic five minute divisions, hinged in circular case with pierced and engraved sides and back with floral and scroll decoration, sonnerie/strike lever in the band, outer pierced and engraved case with similarly decorated front and back rims, pearl and red paste-set bezel, the reverse centred by a polychrome enamel vignette showing a lady kneeling at the altar of love and before Cupid, all surrounded by a translucent red champlevé enamel frame and white beads, large plain pendant and leaf-decorated bow, dust cap signed and numbered
50 mm. diam. inner case, 61 mm. diam outer case

Specialist note

Edward Tomlin is known to have worked as a watch and clockmaker in London between 1768 and 1798. He sat up business at the Royal Exchange, Bartolomew Lane and is recorded, among others, to have worked on a pair of musical clocks destined for the Chinese market around 1775.

The present watch is a very fine example of a watch made for the Chinese market, distinguished by the complicated movement, the centre seconds and the impressive, beautifully decorated case. Emphasis was put on the colour red for both the paste-setting and the enamel decoration, which has long had special significance in China, symbolizing health, wealth and good wishes.