David Hubert

David Hubert, London No. 1442, circa 1745.Very fine and rare 22K gold-mounted, cornelian, ruby paste-set, pair-cased watch. Outer protective: shagreen on gilt base with gold studs. Inner: two-body, "Louis XV", the back sculpted from a solid piece of cornelian mounted in a gold frame, hinged cornelian bezel. 23 mm., hinged, gilt, full plate with baluster pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, plain three-arm brass balance wth flat spring, single-footed, gilt cock with streamers, pierced and engraved with foliage and a mask.Signed on dial and movement.Diam. 33 mm., outer case 39 mm. Notes David Hubertis listed in the Baillie as an "eminent maker". He entered the Clockmakers' Company in 1714 and became a Master in 1743. He was succeeded by Joseph Barnes, circa 1747. Britten speculates that after David's death, Barnes sometimes signed the watches without Hubert's first name.His watches are in the Guildhall Museum and in the Dennison Collection. In the Ilbert collection there was a watch by Hubert, in a lapis lazuli case. On March 31, 2001 Antiquorum sold a similar and important watch from the Lord Sandberg Collection, lot 225.