Andrew Wilde
NAWCC Member
I picked this up at auction recently. The name on the plate is I M Read, Helston, which I believe is John Mabyn Read, listed as a watchmaker although in this instance he's almost certainly the retailer rather than the maker, given the good quality London finish. I'd spotted what looked like a single banking pin head in the catalogue image and together with the lovely condition of the movement and the date (I still think of the 1820s as early for an STR) I bid and won.
It does indeed have a singe banking pin, passing though a hole in the circular end of the lever. There is a stop/start mechanism that works on the end of the lever, with the operating lever protruding at the 32 minute position, very close to the movement case catch. The balance wheel is bi-metallic with faux cuts - it isn' cut right the way through, which seems a bit odd on a movement that is otherwise highly finished.
The case has London hallmarks for 1829, and a makers mark which could be WR but I think is a worn WB for William Boulton, Grays Inn Lane, London, registered in 1809.
I find these banking pin variations interesting. As well as the single pin through a hole as in this one, there are examples of a single pin engaging in a forked lever end, and 2 pins but on the same side of the lever, one inboard and one outboard of the lever pivot. The ones I have seen are on early (mid to late 1820s) STRs. I guess makers were experimenting to improve on the standard 2 banking pin layout, but why might that have been ?
It does indeed have a singe banking pin, passing though a hole in the circular end of the lever. There is a stop/start mechanism that works on the end of the lever, with the operating lever protruding at the 32 minute position, very close to the movement case catch. The balance wheel is bi-metallic with faux cuts - it isn' cut right the way through, which seems a bit odd on a movement that is otherwise highly finished.
The case has London hallmarks for 1829, and a makers mark which could be WR but I think is a worn WB for William Boulton, Grays Inn Lane, London, registered in 1809.
I find these banking pin variations interesting. As well as the single pin through a hole as in this one, there are examples of a single pin engaging in a forked lever end, and 2 pins but on the same side of the lever, one inboard and one outboard of the lever pivot. The ones I have seen are on early (mid to late 1820s) STRs. I guess makers were experimenting to improve on the standard 2 banking pin layout, but why might that have been ?
