Lot 118

Markwick Markham & Perigal, London, Movement No. 41979, 40 mm, 80 g, circa 1815
A gold enamel verge pocket watch with self strike and repeater for the Ottoman market - with original key
Case: gold/polychrome enamel, rear bell. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement, keywind, chain/fusee, three-arm steel balance.
The back of the outer case with enamel medallion: polychrome painting of a flower bouquet on an engine-turned translucent pink-coloured background. The open-worked edge with white enamel and four round and oval-shaped enamel medallions with multi-coloured flowers on a light green ground.

Markwick Markham & Perigal
The trading name of Markwick Markham became famous for watches destined for the Turkish market. Not only did this notoriety encourage the appearance of spuriously signed watches, but at the end of the century Markham, or his successor, associated the names of other watchmakers with their own products intended for the East. The makers thus found associated are: Francis Perigal, Peter Upjohn, H. Story, Borrell, John Johnson, Louis Recordon, Dupont. All were reputable watch-makers in their own right, selling other products under their own names. Francis Perigal (also Perrigal) was active from about 1770 to the time of his death in 1794. He was admitted as honorary freeman of the Clockmakers' Company in 1781. A maker of fine and interesting watches, he made a very early lever watch which, having been recased, can only be dated by the signature: "Watchmaker to the King". This appointment was conferred upon him in 1784. Little is known of Perigal, but the few surviving watches bearing his name are of considerable mechanical interest and of fine quality. He was succeeded in business by his son.

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