Lot 570

Thomas Cummins, 13 Holland Street, Christchurch, London, Movement No. 1126, 54 mm, 165 g, circa 1826
A very fine, heavy and extremely rare English lever chronometer
Case: 18K gold, engine-turned, gold dome, case maker's punch mark "LC" (Louis Comptesse). Dial: regulator dial: gold, engine-turned, eccentric chapter ring with radial Roman hours, auxiliary seconds, outer chapter ring with Arabic minutes, blued hands. Movm.: full plate movement, frosted, gilt, signed, chain/fusee, keywind, screwed chatons, steel escape wheel with lubrication grooves, polished steel lever with concealed pallets, bimetallic chronometer balance with screws, freesprung blued helical balance spring, chatoned diamond endstone on balance.
Thomas Cummins was a member of the Clockmakers‘ Company from 1806 until 1832. He had apprenticed with his father Thomas and had his workshop in 13 Holland Street, Christchurch, Surrey. His son Charles Cummins worked in 148 Leadenhall Street from 1822 until 1856 and was a famous maker of chronometers and barometers. In the mid 1850s chronometer maker John Fletcher (who employed the young Thomas Mercer) took over the premises in Leadenhall Street for some years.

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