| Description |
EPW - Wm. Suddards, Philadelphia marked mvt, English made, lever fusee, 49mm, 18K gold original HC with beautiful front engraving detail of a woman filling a basket of flowers against an idyllic seaside background, case rear and band with beautiful floral engraving detail, case bearing London hallmarks for 1850, casemaker's "J . C" marking in cameo, "Improv.d Patent" marked cream colored enamel dial, KWKS (key not included with this lot), lever escapement, 7J, gilt mvt with gilt locking dust-cap, s#533. Gross weight of assembled watch 66.9 dwt (104.0 g). This watch is highlighted by its exquisite case engraving which is in exceptional crisp condition. Interestingly it appears this engraving detail was applied to a previously fairly well-worn watch, as other surfaces of the case such as the pendant, bow, hinges, and cuvette show an incongruent significant amount of wear.
CONDITION: Mvt: NR, with some prodding will often tick sluggishly with low balance amplitude for a while but stopping again before long, overhaul needed, fine cosmetic mvt condition overall, group of small punch marks to barrel bridge adjacent barrel arbor, some scratches and marring to main plate immediately around pillar positions, gilt plates with some haze and scattered fine to micro-fine scratches; dial with some hls; fine hands, hour and minute are blue colored, seconds-hand is a plum colored replacement, minute with oxide to tip, hour missing a small bit of its tip; case with incongruent wear to its surfaces as front, rear, and band have superb crisp engraving detail showing virtually no wear while the case pendant, bow, hinges, and cuvette show medium wear with reduced detail, we interpret this as indicating the case likely was carried for a number of years and at some point after reaching a medium wear level was brought to a skilled engraver who added the front, rear, and band detail and after this point the watch saw virtually no wear, case with no dents or dings, exquisite crisp engraving detail to front, rear, and band, case front lift spring not contacting to full 90 degree position allowing lid to tilt back a bit toward closed with gravity, case front and rear hinges with some play and are missing end-caps; tight bow thinned at top, push shows medium wear; good glass crystal.
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