English Fusee Lever Pocket Watch with Silver Case and Chain

An open faced pocket watch, key wind, key set, English fusee lever, circular embossed silver dial with gold Roman numerals and subsidiary seconds at six, sterling silver engraved case with gold detail, hallmarked Chester, A.W., diameter 2.20 in., with accompanying fob chain in sterling silver.

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Embossed / Repousse - Embossing, also known as repousse, is the technique of decorating metal with raised designs, by pressing or beating out the design from the reverse side of the object.It is the opposite of chasing, where the decoration is applied from the front. An embossed or repoussed object may have chasing applied to finish off the design.
Sterling Silver - Sterling silver is a mixture of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% of another metal, usually copper. Fine silver is 99.9% pure silver, and is relatively soft and the addition of the very small amount of copper gives the metal enough strength and hardness to be worked into jewellery, decorative and household objects.
Fusee - The fusee movement was used in clocks and pocket watches from the mid 17th century. The fusee is a cone shaped drum within the works that is linked to the barrel of the spring, usually by a length of chain.

As the mainspring loses its tension over time, the cone shaped barrel compensates for this by increasing the tension, by pulling the mainspring tighter, thus ensuring the time remains constant.

Use of the fusee in clocks was superseded by the "going barrel" in the mid 19th century and for pocket watches at the beginning of the 19th century.

The fusee continued to be used in marine chronometers until the 1970s.

This item has been included into following indexes:

pocket watches, case type
- open face, gold / gold-plated case 1,381
- silver case 905
- silver, open face 204
watches - fob 404