Lot 96

William Carpenter, London, Case No. 048, 94 mm, 461 g, circa 1794
A highly decorative carriage watch with ray skin covered outer case, regulator dial, auxiliary seconds, moon age, moon phase and musical movement with pin barrel and six bells for three different tunes; produced for the Chinese market
Case: outer case - silver, gilt, applied shagreen with stud decoration. Inner case - gilt, finely pierced and engraved scroll decorated band and centered by a sprig of flowers to the centre, engraved town view on an oval cartouche below the pendant. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement, keywind, chain/fusee, pin barrel, 6 hammers/6 bells, hack feature, verge escapement, three-arm brass balance.
The regulator dial shows the hours and the moon age with moon phase; it also has an auxiliary dial for choosing one of three tunes: Contillion, Lovely Nancy and Minuet.
William Carpenter in London was an innovative and highly gifted watchmaker of the late 18th century, who successfully produced fine watches and automata for the Chinese, Indian and Ottoman markets. We do not exactly know the dates of his life but he was presumably born in 1727 and freed from the Clockmaker's Company in 1781. Carpenter probably worked until 1803 or 1818; he is best known for his exquisite musical automata. Some of his automata are owned by the Palace Museum in Beijing and by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

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