113rd Auction

2025/11/8

Lot 174

Vulliamy

A collection of 2 London gold pocket watches
A very fine London pocket watch with duplex escapement

Sold

estimated
3.1005.500 €
Price realized
5.700 €
specific features
Case
18 K pink gold, movement protection cap, case maker's punch mark "FC FHB".
Dial
Enamel.
Movement
Full plate movement, chain/fusee, three-arm steel balance.
Case no.isz
Diam.51 mm
Circa1811
Ctry.England
Wt.127 g


Benjamin Vulliamy (1747–1811), an English watchmaker and chronometer maker, was the son of the Swiss watchmaker Justin Vulliamy (1712–1797). In 1775, Benjamin took over his father's workshop in Pall Mall, London, and began manufacturing precision pendulum clocks for observatories, as well as pocket watches and chronometers. From 1800, he was the official watchmaker to King George III, for whom he made a precision pendulum clock, among other items. His son, Benjamin Louis Vulliamy (1780–1854), later took over the workshop.
As the clocks were numbered consecutively over three generations, and as some of the workshop records are preserved at the British Horological Institute, Vulliamy clocks can usually be dated accurately. This provides interesting insights into the development of clock technology at the time.
Source: wikipedia.org