Lot 157

S. Smith & Son, 9 Strand, London, Makers to the British and Indian Governments, Movement No. 1901-23, Case No. 1901-23, 62 mm, 228 g, circa 1901
A historically important, large and heavy pocket watch with flying 12 min. tourbillon according Robert Benson North, Chronograph, 60 min. and 12 hours counter - with original box
Case: 18k gold, case maker punch mark "SS" (Samuel Smith, London), pendant chased "GJ", glazed movement. Dial: enamel, off-white, made by Willis, tachy scale. Movm.: 2/3 plate movement, compensation blance with gold and platinum screws.
This watch is no. 1901-23 of a very exclusive series of timepieces which Samuel Smith finished for the observatory trials at Kew. It is a large, striking piece with subsidiary 60 minutes and co-axial 12-hour register - and also the very first two-button, four-function chronograph known to exist. The construction was first patented by Universal Watch Co. in Switzerland in 1929 but the two-button, four-function chronograph system featuring in this watch is almost 30 years older. Robert Benson North received a patent no. 6737 for this type of revolving escapement without bridge in 1903. This means that this timepiece is very likely the working prototype for North’s patent; the fact that the English tended to describe both carousel regulators and tourbillons as "revolving escapements" during the late 19th and early 20th century is probably the reason why North’s patent has been more or less ignored. Specifically, the patent was granted for "improvements to revolving escapements for watches and other portable timekeepers".
Even though the construction strongly resembles a carrousel, it is in fact technically a tourbillon. Designed without an upper bridge, this must be one of the earliest if not the first flying tourbillons ever made - decades before the Glashütte tourbillons created by Alfred Helwig (although these would gain much more prominence). The decision to do without the fine polished tourbillon cage may have resulted from a focus purely on technology and the unique new design.
The watch is perfectly finished and fitted with a double overcoiled Phillip's balance spring - a type that was only ever used in watches of supreme quality to ensure perfect isochronism. The spring is made of a palladium/copper alloy to reduce acceleration and is rustproof and antimagnetic. The revolving escapement is made of gold.
S. Smith & Son
A leading firm in London for high quality and complicated watches at the turn of the century, S. Smith & Son was founded in 1851 by the jeweller and watchmaker Samuel Smith. In addition to the wide range of watches and clocks for private customers, Smith's also built reliable chronometers which made the firm a supplier to the Admiralty. Under the management of Herbert S.A. Smith the firm developed into a large manufacturing company that had its own research laboratories; in the next generation Sir Alan Herbert Smith extended the company product range further and began with the production of automobile and aircraft instruments. Around this time a period of general decline for British horology began; even so, a few British watchmakers created magnificent, ultra-complicated watches, as if to prove to the world that they were still the best. Some of these watches were made in collaboration with the most renowned Swiss watch companies. Charles Frodsham, Edward John Dent, and Samuel Smith were the London watchmakers best known for this, as well as J. W. Player in Coventry.
Provenance: Esmond Bradley Martin Collection