Beschreibung:

A gilt brass ‘Navigator’ skeleton timepiece Comitti, London, recent The five turned pillar single fusee movement with five spoke wheel crossings planted between waisted pierced arched plates fronted by large escape wheel mounted to the upper margin behind the dial with Harrison’s ‘grasshopper’ escapement regulated by twin dumb bell balances with interconnecting rack teeth and regulation screw-weights to rear, the front with circular silvered brass Roman numeral chapter ring and steel moon hands beneath silvered arched seconds sector with Arabic ten seconds and double-ended hand driven directly by the escape wheel arbor, the rear engraved H1, 067, Comitti, Made in England, No Jewels, on pair of stepped gilt brass plinths applied to rectangular mahogany stand stepped to take a framed glass cover applied with brass name plate Comitti of London, Est 1850 to front and with retailer’s label MARTIN & COMPANY LTD., CHELTENHAM to interior, the timepiece 36.5 cm (14.25ins) high; 45cm (17.5ins) high overall. The firm Comitti of London was founded by an Italian immigrant instrument maker, Onorato Comitti, who set-up workshops in Clerkenwell, London in 1850. Initially he specialised in recording instruments including mercury and aneroid barometers but diversified into clockmaking with the firm receiving the Diploma of Honour for the company's workmanship in 1888. Today Comitti of London is still a family-owned business, run by the fifth generation specialising in producing hi-end timepieces. The ‘Navigator’ timepiece was devised by Comitti to demonstrate the motion and working of Harrison’s grasshopper escapement as applied to his first marine timekeeper H1 completed in around 1735. The retail price for the current range of ‘Navigator’ timepieces is around £11,000 each. Condition report disclaimer