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While Boston is engraved on the back plate, the place name on this watch refers to Boston, Lancashire, 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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