wrist-watch;
watch-case
- Museum number
- 1986,0509.1
- Description
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GOLD-CASED CLUB-TOOTH LEVER WRIST-WATCH WITH GOLD BRACELET.
Wrist-watch.
Three-quarter-plate movement with club-tooth lever escapement; split bimetallic compensated balance with gold timing and compensation screws.
White enamel dial with outer minute ring and Roman hour numerals.
Blued-steel hands.
Gold case with hinged back and bezel.
Gold bracelet.
- Production date
- 1910 (case)
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 28.60 millimetres (case)
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Diameter: 21.80 millimetres (dial)
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Thickness: 9.60 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Comment from Richard Good, Catalogue of Watches in the British Museum. Vol. V (Unpublished manuscript)
Made by Charles Frodsham.(1)
England (London and Rotherham), c. 1910
Gold cased wrist watch with club tooth lever escapement.
Signature: On the dial "Chas Frodsham London 09375". On the movement "Chas Frodsham 115, NEW BOND ST LONDON 351487".
Case: An 18ct. gold open face case, both the back and the bezel hinged. The case hallmarked London 1910, with makers mark R & S (Rotherham). The case numbered 353 and 8. The bracelet not original.
Dial & Hands: A flat enamel dial held by two edge screws. Hair line cracks and chips around the edge of the dial. Blued-steel spade pattern hands.
Movement:
Ebauche Marks: The Rotherham trade mark and the number 351487.
Frame: A nickel silver frame. All of the train including the escape wheel lies beneath a bridge which is supported by three pillars and secured by screws. The frame is spotted all over. Under the back plate is the number 51487. Under the pallet cock is the number 87 and under the balance cock is the number 487.
Barrel and Mainspring:
The watch has a going arbor with the brass great wheel integral with the hollow barrel arbor. The winding arbor is integral with the barrel.
Barrel: internal diameter 9.55 mm, height 1.35 mm.
Mainspring: height 1.25 mm, thickness 0.20 mm.
Barrel Arbor: diameter 3.0 mm, snailed.
Hooking: Was a pressed in tongue but is now a round hook.
Train: The brass train wheels are gilded, the centre, third and fourth wheels with five crossings. The escape wheel of gold with four crossings.
Jewelling: Jewelled bearings from the third wheel onwards, the jewels bombé. Those in the back plate and the balance cock are in screwed settings, the remaining jewels are in chatons. Ruby endstones to the escapement and balance.
Escapement: A straight line layout, club tooth lever escapement with short lever, double roller and D-shaped impulse pin. The covered pallet stones have convex acting faces. A gold escape wheel with four crossings.
An equal impulse escapement.
No. of teeth embraced 3½.
Balance & Spring: A split bimetallic balance with gold compensation and quarter screws. Balance diameter 9.6 mm., thickness 0.82 mm. A blued-steel flat spiral spring with 11 ½ turns and a terminal curve.
Means of Regulation: An index on the balance cock registers against a divided scale with 'F S' engraved on the balance cock table.
Train Counts and Beat Rate:
Great wheel 75 (barrel)
Centre wheel 80 pinion 10
Third wheel 75 pinion 10
Fourth wheel 70 pinion 10
Escape wheel 15 pinion 7
Beat rate: 18,000
Motion work: cannon pinion 12
minute wheel 24, minute pinion 7
hour wheel 42
Winding System: Rocking bar, side set keyless work with a two part stem. The rolled gold button, now somewhat the worse for wear, is secured to the outer part of the stem with a slotted nut in the conventional English fashion.
Dimensions: Case diameter 28.4 mm., height 8.8 mm.
Movement: diameter 24.1 mm., height 6.0 mm.
Provenance: Purchased in 1986 with the aid of funds made available by Stanley H. Burton.
Note:
(1) These watches are advertised in the HJ's of the time by Rotherham who state that the entire watch including the bracelet fitted is made by them.
For an identical watch see 'Wristwatches' by Kahlert, Mühe & Brunner p. 158. The number of the watch is remarkably close to this example, being 09387.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Latest: 3 (2017)
- Acquisition date
- 1986
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1986,0509.1
