Josiah Emery, London

• Movement: gilded full plate movement, two-plane lever escapement with jewelled pallets and impulse, escape wheel with slotted teeth, the balance in the style of Arnold’s ‘double S’ with two brass arms, two gold timing screws, two bi-metallic compensation affixes each with gold adjusting screw, blued steel helical spring, decoratively engraved balance bridge, diamond endstone, fusee and chain with Harrison’s maintaining power, turned pillars, movement stop slide beneath the bezel between 5 and 6 o’clock • gilt metal dust cap with secret release catch below pendant to the front bezel • movement signed Josiah Emery, Charing Cross, London 947, dust cap signed and numbered 946
• Dial: white enamel regulator type dial, hour dial to the top with seconds dial beneath, outer minute ring, blued steel hands • dial signed Emery London
• Case: plain gold consular case, maker’s mark VW incuse for Valentine Walker • with later wooden deck box and with agate set key with short chain

Sotheby's London, Sir John Prestige Collection, 22nd April 1963, lot 2

Terence Camerer Cuss, The English Watch 1585-1970, 2009, p. 290, pl. 178

Jonathan Betts, "Josiah Emery, Watchmaker of Charing Cross, Part I and Part IV", Antiquarian Horology, vol. 22, no. 5, Spring 1996, p. 401 & Winter 1996, No. 2, vol. 23, pp. 137-138 and figs, 52-53

Anthony G. Randall, The Time Museum Catalogue of Chronometers, 1992, p. 164

Antiquarian Horology, Autumn 1989 page 339, illustrated in Philip Whyte, Bury Street, London full page advertisement

T.P. Camerer Cuss, The Country Life Book of Watches, 1967, p. 79, fig. 98, Colour plate III

Movement running at time of cataloguing. Dial with hairline cracks running outwards from the centre. Case with light scuffs. The dust cap is numbered 946.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. All dimensions in catalogue descriptions are approximate. Condition reports may not specify mechanical replacements or imperfections to the movement, case, dial, pendulum, separate base(s) or dome. Watches in water-resistant cases have been opened to examine movements but no warranties are made that the watches are currently water-resistant. Please note that we do not guarantee the authenticity of any individual component parts, such as wheels, hands, crowns, crystals, screws, bracelets and leather bands, since subsequent repairs and restoration work may have resulted in the replacement of original parts. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue. In particular, please note it is the purchaser's responsibility to comply with any applicable import and export matters, particularly in relation to lots incorporating materials from endangered species.NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

**Please be advised that bands made of materials derived from endangered or otherwise protected species (i.e. alligator and crocodile) are not sold with the watches and are for display purposes only. We reserve the right to remove these bands prior to shipping."

Josiah Emery was born in Etagnieres, Switzerland in 1725 and later settled in London at 33 Cockspur Street. He is best known as a pioneer of the lever escapement, and followed Thomas Mudge as the second maker of lever watches, deriving inspiration directly from Mudge’s in- line lever escapement model, but to his own design. Count von Bruhl, Ambassador to Great Britain for the Court of Saxony and Thomas Mudge’s steadfast patron and friend, encouraged Josiah Emery to make a number of lever watches. Although Mudge conceived the idea of the lever escapement in 1754, it was not until 1770 that he presented his first watch with the escapement to King George III, and it was only 11 years after this, in 1781, that Emery began work on his own lever watches. Emery continued to work on his lever watches for the rest of his life.

Emery made lever watches in two sizes and it is thought that he produced approximately 38 of them from 1782-1795 of which the present watch is the larger size (See G. Daniels & C. Clutton, Watches, First Edition, p. 133). Today a total of 25 are known to have survived in various states and, of these, 12 are more or less complete and in their original condition, including the present piece. Sequentially, the present lot, no. 947, is the third earliest of these watches. This important watch is
therefore one of the earliest watches ever made with a lever escapement.

The complexity of executing Emery’s form of lever escapement would have required an extremely high level of craftsmanship, and for this reason it is perhaps unsurprising that his designs were not widely taken up (see: The Camerer Cuss Book of Antique Watches, p. 143). It is interesting to note that the balance is similar in design to John Arnold’s ‘Double S’ type which Arnold patented in 1782 (for which see lot 38). The
balance has two brass arms, a helical blued steel spring, two gold timing screws and two bi-metallic compensation affixes, each with a gold adjusting screw.

Emery was made an honorary Freeman of the Clockmakers’ Company in 1781. After his death in 1796, Louis Recordon succeeded to the business.