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While Boston is engraved on the back plate, the place name on this watch refers to Boston, Lincolnshire , not Boston, Massachusetts as assumed when this watch was acquired back in 2001. Still, it is a nice example of an early English watch by a provincial maker working on the east coast of England.
Circa 1725, gilt-brass verge and fusee movement of good quality signed E Stevens Boston with inward facing script. No serial number. Pierced and engraved balance with long streamers and grotesque mask. Tompion regulator. Egyptian pillars and decorative fusee stop-work foot.
Plain silver pair case, both with makers’ mark “TS” with a coronet above (Tudor Smith). Both cases have 7-knuckle hinges.
Champlevé dial replaced with the present enamel dial in the mid-18th century when fashions changed and upgrading watch dials were commonplace. Replaced hands. Watch paper from T.W. Loughrey, Pittsburgh with a repair date of 1857 within the case. It is not uncommon to find verge & fusee watches still in use well over a hundred years after its manufacture.
Additional References and recommended reading:
Brian Loomes, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World, N.A.G. Press, 2006
Philip Priestley, British Watchcase Gold & Silver Marks 1670 to 1970, National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors, 2018
A.S.H. Wilbourn, R. Ellis, Lincolnshire Clock, Watch and Barometer Makers, Belton Ltd., 2001
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