Lot 383

James Vigne, London, Movement No. 745, Case No. 745, 51 mm, 136 g, circa 1766
An excellent pair-cased gold enamel verge pocket watch with quarter repeater "à toc" and matching gold enamel chatelaine
Case: outer case - 22k pink gold, enamel. Inner case - 22k pink gold, engraved dedication: "The Gift of Sam Weeley Esq to Kitty March", rear bell. Dial: enamel. Movm.: full plate movement, chain/fusee, 2 hammers, dust cover, three-arm gilt brass balance, balance bridge with unusual profile mask at the base.
The back is decorated with engraved, translucent blue enamel foliage scrolls as well as a crown over the initial "R"; the ornamentation is framed by meander patterns that are repeated on the front. The matching chatelaine is stamped with the casemaker’s mark "WB". It is gilded and embellished with translucent blue petals and leaves, and "basse-taille" meander bands. A paste stone, two signets and a watch key with agate inlay are attached.
Both cases bearing the maker's mark "DA", Daniel Aveline (1709-1772), recorded as a watch case maker in Denmark Street, St Giles in the Fields, freeman of the Clockmakers' Company in the 1768. His mark is often found on fine gold cases, many of them decorative, containing movements by the best English watchmakers of the period. His will is held at the National Archives in Kew.
The initial "R" below the heraldic crown of an Earl may indicate the watch was made for the Earl of Radnor. The earldom was created for a second time in 1765 (The year before this watch was made) when William Bouverie, 2nd Viscount Folkestone, was made Earl of Radnor.
Earl of Radnor is a title which has been created twice. It was first created in the Peerage of England in 1679 for John Robartes, 2nd Baron Robartes, a notable political figure of the reign of Charles II. He was made Viscount Bodmin at the same time. Robartes was the son of Richard Robartes, who had been created Baronet in July 1621 and Baron Robartes, of Truro, in the Peerage of England in 1626. All three titles became extinct on the death of the fourth Earl in 1757.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_of_Radnor, as of 09/12/2018.
Watchmaker James Vigne was born in 1745 in London; he was the son of Jacques Vigne, who was a Huguenot originally from Dieppe. James Vigne worked at Charing Cross 2 in London. In 1781 he received the freedom of the Clockmakers' Company; he was the father of miniature painter Henry George Vigne (1765-1788) and Henry Vigne (1783-1850), who would later become a jeweller in Dublin. The Vigne family eventually moved to College Green 27 in Dublin, where Vigne was appointed jeweller to Her Majesty the Queen. James Vigne died in Dublin on December 15, 1800.
Source: www.watch-wiki.org/index.php?title=Vigne,_James, as of 09/12/2018

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