Arnold & Dent

A FINE WILLIAM IV 18CT GOLD QUARTER-REPEATING POCKET WATCH WITH CYLINDER ESCAPEMENT ARNOLD AND DENT, LONDON, 1832 The gilt single fusee movement with four columnar pillars pinned through the backplate and cylinder escapement regulated by sprung three-arm flat-rim steel balance, the quarter repeat-work operated via plunger to the suspension post sounding the hours on a gong followed by ting-tang quarters on the same and a second smaller gong set within the circumference of the case, the backplate with plain balance cock incorporating faceted ruby endstone and with wedge-shaped foot, set beside raised plate for the mainspring barrel applied with spring set-up ratchet opposing Slow/Fast regulation lever and engraved signature Jn'o. R. Arnold, London with serial number 3882 and further text & Dent to the spring barrel pivot plate, the circular white enamel Roman numeral dial signed ARNOLD & DENT, LONDON, 3882 and with gold/gilt moon hands, the engine-turned silvered case with suspension post and loop at twelve o'clock, crest engraved as stag to the centre of the rear cover and inscribed Guy Lenox Prendergast to the inner cover, marks for London 1832 maker HH . The pillar plate 3.5cm (1.375ins) diameter, the case 4.8cm (1.875ins) diameter. Provenance: The Leonard Fuller Collection. Purchased from Aubrey Brocklehurst, London, 29 th August 1967 for £95. The inscription to the inside cover indicates that the present watch was formerly the property of Guy Lenox Prendergast (1773-1845). Prendergast was of Irish descent and held many positions in the East India Company, mostly in Madras and Bombay, from 1793 (including chief Judge, Bombay 1816) until 1826. He was then elected as M.P. for Lymington 1827. Edward John Dent was a talented horologist who at the age of 17 transferred his apprenticeship from the trade of tallow chandler to watchmaking under the charge of Edward Gaudin in 1807. By 1817 he had become well known as a watch and clockmaker receiving commissions from the Admiralty for a 'Standard Astronomical Clock' and pocket chronometers for the Colonial Office Africa Expedition. In 1830 Dent went into partnership with John Roger Arnold which continued until 1840 when he left and set up business alone as E.J. Dent at 82 Strand, London, primarily making marine chronometers, watches and precision clocks. John Roger Arnold was born in 1769, the son of the famous watch and chronometer maker John Arnold. He initially trained under his father and then Abraham Louis Breguet before, in 1787, going into partnership with his father. The firm of Arnold and Son subsequently became principal suppliers of early marine chronometers to the Royal Navy and lasted until the death of John Arnold senior in 1799. John Roger Arnold continued the business, in 1817 he was appointed Master of the Clockmakers' Company and in 1821 he was credited with the invention of the 'U' shaped compensated chronometer balance. In 1830 Arnold took Edward John Dent into partnership (after the unfortunate demise of his adopted son and likely successor); the partnership lasted ten years before being dissolved leaving Arnold to work alone until his death in 1843. The present lot would appear to be a particularly early product of the Arnold and Dent partnership as the '& Dent' text engraved to the mainspring pivot plate would appear to be an addition executed after John Roger Arnold's signature. This would suggest that the movement had already been finished by Arnold and was awaiting dialling/casing before the creation of the partnership in 1831.