Centuries of Time: A Private Collection

Centuries of Time: A Private Collection

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 1376. A gold and enamel pair cased dumb half-quarter repeating cylinder watch with matching chatelaine 1769-70, no. 765.

Alexander Cumming

A gold and enamel pair cased dumb half-quarter repeating cylinder watch with matching chatelaine 1769-70, no. 765

Auction Closed

May 14, 02:23 PM GMT

Estimate

6,000 - 8,000 CHF

Lot Details

Description

Alexander Cumming


A gold and enamel pair cased dumb half-quarter repeating cylinder watch with matching chatelaine 

1769-70, no. 765


• Movement: gilded full plate, cylinder escapement, fusee and chain, flat three-arm balance, decoratively pierced and engraved balance cock, diamond endstone, silver regulation plate, two polished steel hammers repeating on two steel blocks mounted to inner case band, signed and numbered Alex Cumming, London, 765, gilt-metal dust cap signed A. Cumming, London

• Dial: white enamel with hairlines, Roman numerals, outer Arabic minute ring, filigree hands

• Cases: plain gold inner case, plunge pendant for repeat, aperture for winding to back, provision for pulse piece at 5.30 • gold outer case, the back centred with translucent Royal blue enamel over an engraved floral bouquet, the bezels with matching decoration, diamond-set thumb piece, inner and outer cases hallmarked 1769-1770and with incuse case maker's mark PM for Peter Mounier

• Chatelaine: the matching chatelaine with gold mounts fused over brass plaques and composed of four panels, each with a translucent blue enamel painted floral bouquet, some enamel repairs, the upper panel forming the pendant hook and suspending four pendant chains with small enamel flowers each terminating in a clip


diameter 49mm

R. Chadwick, A Voyage Through Time, London: Unicorn, 2020, pp. 108-109.
Alexander Cumming FRS (1733-1814) born in Edinburgh, was a highly respected and accomplished clock and chronometer maker who became clock and watchmaker to King George III. By the late 1760s he was working in London's Bond Street. Cumming was a member of the committee appointed by an Act of Parliament to examine John Harrison’s fourth marine timekeeper, the so-called H4, in March of 1763. In 1766, Cumming published “The Elements of Clock and Watch Work” which included improvements to the cylinder escapement, showing the use of curved teeth on the escape wheel - a feature found in the present watch. In 1781 he was elected an honorary Freeman of the Clockmakers’ Company. In 1783 Cumming was one of the founding members of The Royal Society of Edinburgh. Cummings’ works included a sumptuous barometrical clock with padouk veneer, gilt bronze mounts and internal ivory columns, which is part of the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace. The barometrical clock records the height of the barometer every day throughout the year. Cumming was paid an immense £2,000 for the clock and given an annual allowance of £200 for its upkeep. See, Britten, Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers. Interestingly, as a result of instruments he made for Capt. Phipps's voyage to the polar regions in 1773, the island of Cummingøya in Svalbard was named after him.