A rare silver cased pump-wind detached lever pocket watch with unusual manual calendarEdward Massey, Coventry, circa 1820The frosted gilt single going barrel movement with four columnar pillars pinned through the backplate and Massey crank roller lever escapement regulated by undersprung three-arm steel dome-profile balance with Bosley type regulation, the backcock with diamond endstone, bright-cut foliate engraved decoration onto a matted ground and inscribed MASSEY'S PATENT to foot, secured next to the mainspring pivot plate signed Massey, COVENTRY with serial number No. 403 engraved next to the curved regulation scale, the circular white enamel Roman numeral dial with subsidiary dial divided into seven and numbered and consecutively numbered from 1-31 increasing in a spiral arrangement clockwise from one division line to the next and overlaid with a gilt seven-arm pointer with tips formed as the letters M,T,W then an arrowhead followed by F,S and a dot and pivoted at the centre around a screw, the plain two-piece case with pump-wind plunger fitted with hinged suspension ring at twelve o'clock, (case indistinctly marked, dial with damage and lacking hands), the pillar plate 42mm (1,25ins) diameter; 51mm (2ins) diameter overall. Edward Massey is recorded in Baillie, G.H. Watchmakers & Clockmakers of the World as born in 1772 working in Coventry in 1814 and dying in 1852. Alan Treherne, in The Massey Family, (museum exhibition catalogue Newcastle-under-Lyme, 1977) notes that in November 1814, Edward Massey was granted patent 3854 to cover both his first form of lever escapement and his pump winding mechanism. The winding is activated by a ratchet mounted on the going barrel arbor which is wound by a spring-loaded rack operated when the pendant is depressed. Massey's contribution to the development of the lever escapement was important as he was the first maker to introduce a simple and reasonably priced version of the escapement, thereby helping to transform the escapement's commercial potential and reviving the lever's development which had stalled since the end of the 18th century. The subsidiary calendar dial of the current lot appears to be an ingeniously simple way of displaying date-of-the-month for a given day of the week once it has been manually set/calibrated at the start of the month. The dial is numbered 1 to 31 in a spiral from the centre with each consecutive number placed clockwise on each of the seven division lines in-turn. At the start of the month the day that the first of the month lands on needs to be manually lined-up with the '1,8,15,22,29' radial scale, this then allows the dates of the month for each day of the week to be read against each arm of the hand. The substitution of Thursday with an arrowhead and Sunday with a dot (at the tips of the seven-prong hand) is most likely an attempt to avoid confusion through repetition of letters. The combination of pump-wind, Massey type lever escapement and unusual manual calendar on a watch signed by Edward Massey himself renders the current lot as an extremely rare, if not unique example which appears to have been made with the intention of demonstrating the fertile innovative mind of the maker.
A rare silver cased pump-wind detached lever pocket watch with unusual manual calendarEdward Massey, Coventry, circa 1820The frosted gilt single going barrel movement with four columnar pillars pinned through the backplate and Massey crank roller lever escapement regulated by undersprung three-arm steel dome-profile balance with Bosley type regulation, the backcock with diamond endstone, bright-cut foliate engraved decoration onto a matted ground and inscribed MASSEY'S PATENT to foot, secured next to the mainspring pivot plate signed Massey, COVENTRY with serial number No. 403 engraved next to the curved regulation scale, the circular white enamel Roman numeral dial with subsidiary dial divided into seven and numbered and consecutively numbered from 1-31 increasing in a spiral arrangement clockwise from one division line to the next and overlaid with a gilt seven-arm pointer with tips formed as the letters M,T,W then an arrowhead followed by F,S and a dot and pivoted at the centre around a screw, the plain two-piece case with pump-wind plunger fitted with hinged suspension ring at twelve o'clock, (case indistinctly marked, dial with damage and lacking hands), the pillar plate 42mm (1,25ins) diameter; 51mm (2ins) diameter overall. Edward Massey is recorded in Baillie, G.H. Watchmakers & Clockmakers of the World as born in 1772 working in Coventry in 1814 and dying in 1852. Alan Treherne, in The Massey Family, (museum exhibition catalogue Newcastle-under-Lyme, 1977) notes that in November 1814, Edward Massey was granted patent 3854 to cover both his first form of lever escapement and his pump winding mechanism. The winding is activated by a ratchet mounted on the going barrel arbor which is wound by a spring-loaded rack operated when the pendant is depressed. Massey's contribution to the development of the lever escapement was important as he was the first maker to introduce a simple and reasonably priced version of the escapement, thereby helping to transform the escapement's commercial potential and reviving the lever's development which had stalled since the end of the 18th century. The subsidiary calendar dial of the current lot appears to be an ingeniously simple way of displaying date-of-the-month for a given day of the week once it has been manually set/calibrated at the start of the month. The dial is numbered 1 to 31 in a spiral from the centre with each consecutive number placed clockwise on each of the seven division lines in-turn. At the start of the month the day that the first of the month lands on needs to be manually lined-up with the '1,8,15,22,29' radial scale, this then allows the dates of the month for each day of the week to be read against each arm of the hand. The substitution of Thursday with an arrowhead and Sunday with a dot (at the tips of the seven-prong hand) is most likely an attempt to avoid confusion through repetition of letters. The combination of pump-wind, Massey type lever escapement and unusual manual calendar on a watch signed by Edward Massey himself renders the current lot as an extremely rare, if not unique example which appears to have been made with the intention of demonstrating the fertile innovative mind of the maker.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
