Joseph Banister Colchester – Fusee Lever with Duplex Escapement – 1818c

General Description

Here we offer an English Pocket Watch with a rare Duplex Movement, which is in excellent condition, is in good working order and has Arnold style Trapezoidal weights on the balance wheel. It was made by Joseph Banister of Colchester in Sussex, who is listed by G H Baillie as in Colchester from 1790 to 1836 – was a partner with Hedge and patented  a crutch for clocks. He also invented and patented an “improved dead-beat escapement assembly” in 1836. He died in 1875 at the age of 96 – see footnote.

The 55mm Silver Case bears an unclear makers mark I I•J ?, the Silver Standard Mark, a London Town mark, with year date for 1818c. It is 20mm deep – (25.4mm =1 inch).

The Movement is a fusee Lever with Duplex escapement,  is in very good cosmetic and working condition, bears sn7264 and is signed as shown in the pics.

The 46mm White Enamel Dial is in good condition, but has a small chip above 12.00. It has Roman Numerals, a Glass Crystal and Blue Steel Fleur de Lix Hands.

It is being sold as described and in the condition as shown in the pics and comes to you directly from a large Irish Watch Collection, which was assembled over the past 40-50 years – (Ref :ACC221).

It is priced at €950, or nearest offer.

The S&H is by Registered and signed for Priority Airmail at a cost of €20 to the UK and near European Countries.

Other Worldwide destinations are by Fedex at a cost of €85 to €115, depending on destination.

The Pictures and Text form the complete offering in all my listings and are subject to Copyright.

“As some of you saw from a couple of other posts I made here, a little while ago I acquired a pair of running verge fusée movements, one of which is signed “Banister Colchester”. This was made by Joseph Banister, a clock and watchmaker from Colchester Sussex, who was very well known in the area. He was partnered with another famous clock and watchmaker of the area, Nathaniel Hedge, and bought out Hedge’s house, shop and stock-in-trade when he retired in 1818.

I more recently purchased a copy of Bernard Mason’s labour-of-love book entitled “Clock and Watchmaking in Colchester”, which features a chapter devoted to Banister, who also appears in other sections of the book. Several clocks and four watches by Banister are featured in photographs in the book.

One of the watches featured is a “silver verge watch” dated 1814. The photographs of watches in the book appear life-size, as you can see when I place my movement beside the one of this 1814 watch.

The decorations on the movement are very similar in both watches, and placed side by side they look like reunited brothers. Their serial numbers are very close (7109 or 7199 in the book, and 7166 on mine) so mine probably dates from around the same year. I attach photos of the cover of Mason’s book, and the “re-united” photos of the two movements, for your pleasure.

It’s certainly nice to own a verge-fusée watch by a known maker from that era, about whom I can find out details of his life, his watch-making practice, his origins, etc. An interesting transcription in the book from an advertisement of 1821 states “…his watches in particular are of his own manufacture, an advantage which few, if any other Person between London and Yarmouth possesses, and are besides warranted not to be surpassed by any Manufacturer in the Kingdom, in Price or Quality.”

This seems to confirm my supposition that Joseph Banister would have had more of a hand in the manufacture of his watches, than the average finisher or retailer of that era (in London or elsewhere), who more often than not purchased ready-made movements from north-west England and just added their signatures to them. Banister also invented and patented an “improved dead-beat escapement assembly” in 1836.

There are many interesting facts and anecdotes about Banister in the book; he lived to a very old age of 96 years (died in 1875), and was revered during his life as a craftsman, businessman, family man, and upstanding citizen of Colchester.

I’m proud to own one of his watch movements, which is still ticking!”