25,300 CHF
D(aniel) Quare, London No. 3501, case with master mark "WG", and London hallmarks for 1709.Fine and rare 22K gold pair-cased watch. Outer: two-body, polished. Inner: two-body, "bassine" with deep back, polished, punched with "WG" Master mark, swivel pendant, loose ring. Gold champlevé with Roman numerals and outer Arabic minute ring. Blued steel "poker and beetle" hands. 41 mm, hinged gilt brass full plate, Egyptian pillars, fusee with chain, verge escapement, plain steel three-arm balance, flat balance-spring, gilt brass English cock with streamers, pierced and engraved with a mask and foliage.Signed on the dial and back plate.Diam. 55 mm. Notes Daniel Quare (c. 1648-1724)was admitted as brother of the Clockmakers' Company in 1671 and served as Master in 1708. In 1718 he entered into partnership with Stephen Horseman, who had been apprenticed to him; after his death, Horseman carried on alone under the partnership name until 1733, when he became bankrupt and the business was sold. About 1680, Quare produced repeating watches of his own design, and when Edward Barlow, in 1686, sought to patent a repeating device, Quare, backed by the Clockmakers' Company, opposedhe monopoly. In Quare's arrangement a single push on a pin projecting from the case near the pendant sufficed to sound the hours and quarters, while Barlow's required a distinct action for each. The King, after a trial of both watches, gave preference to that of Quare. Although the concentric minute
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2001-10-13
