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UID:ff1944dd1f8ccc591ce04871bc3d9946
DTSTAMP:20260413T012112Z
SUMMARY:james-mccabe - Date de vente : 17/12/2025
DESCRIPTION:Nom du lots : James McCabe\n\nfour train two-tier movement wit
 h round pillars\, barrel covers and skeletonised top plate highly decorati
 vely engraved\, going train with chain fusee and cylinder escapement\, spr
 ing barrels for strike\, alarm and music\, two tunes played via pinned bar
 rel connected via eleven levers to eleven hammers striking on a nest of si
 x bells\, polished steel hammers striking bell mounted within case back\, 
 V-shaped bridge securing bells signed McCabe London\n\nwhite enamel dial w
 ith central fifths of a second subsidiary\, enclosed by 5 further subsidia
 ry dials for hours\, minutes\, seconds\, alarm and lunar date\, tune selec
 tion arc at the base\n\ngilt-metal case\, both bezels set with split pearl
 s and rope-twist decoration\, the gilt metal sides heightened by applied c
 ast three-colour gold decoration of floral swags and tied ribbons interspe
 rsed by alternating panels of opaque white enamel roundels inset with trop
 hies of music and war and translucent red flinqué enamel ovals with opaqu
 e white enamel borders\, the back with gold scroll work against opaque whi
 te enamel ground and centred with a gold anchor and rope motif against a b
 lue enamel ground\, the central panel surrounded by the inscription “Pr
 es. to Adml. Lord Nelson By the Officers of HMS Victory Aug 20 1805” ag
 ainst a light red flinqué enamel ground\, the hinged back opening to reve
 al a fixed inner dome decoratively pierced and engraved throughout with st
 ylised flowers\, geometric motifs and with four apertures for winding\, i
 n original leather covered box with handwritten instructions\n\ndiameter 1
 20mm\n\ndial diameter 85mm\n\nSotheby\, London\, 5th October 2005\, Lot 18
 4\n\nOn 20 August 1805 Nelson struck his flag at Portsmouth and went home 
 to Merton Place\, the house in Surrey he shared with his mistress Emma\, L
 ady Hamilton. He had been at sea in HMS Victory since May 1803 and arrived
  home tired\, anxious and frustrated that the enemy had eluded him after a
  frantic transatlantic pursuit. His reception in England was rapturous.\n\
 nHe was mobbed in the streets and the great and the simply curious\, inclu
 ding royal princes\, beat a path to Merton Place which Emma\, finally secu
 re in her role as the hero’s consort\, had filled with Nelson’s family
 . The evenings passed in happy dinner parties: the domestic turmoil that h
 ad overshadowed his last leave now no more than a distant memory. Yet the 
 threat of the massing enemy fleet remained unresolved and by day Nelson wa
 s locked in conference at the admiralty and with ministers. On 2 September
  word reached London that the French and Spanish fleets had combined at C
 ádiz. Nelson’s inevitable recall swiftly followed. At dawn on 14 Septem
 ber\, after an emotional farewell from Merton\, he arrived back at Portsmo
 uth. A few hours later he was pulled out to Victory to begin his final\, f
 ateful mission.\n\nThe presentation of such an extraordinary watch to Nels
 on by the officers of Victory would have been intended to mark the end of 
 their exceptionally long and arduous tour of duty together and\, with hind
 sight\, its date acquires a deeper resonance. Inscribed 20 August 1805\, t
 he day Nelson struck his flag and briefly returned to domestic peace\, it 
 also fell at the precise moment he was about to resume command for what hi
 s officers understood would be a major and potentially decisive campaign a
 gainst the combined fleets. The gift therefore carried a double significan
 ce: both a token of gratitude for past leadership and a gesture of loyalty
  and confidence on the eve of their most perilous enterprise.\n\nThe watch
  may well have been commissioned in advance of his return to shore and lar
 gely completed by that time\, with the inscription added to anchor it to t
 his significant date. Although the exact moment of presentation is not rec
 orded\, the presence of the 20 August 1805 inscription firmly associates i
 t with Nelson’s brief interlude at Merton between sea commands and befor
 e his final battle. If completed before Trafalgar. the absence of any refe
 rence to the watch in the inventories of his possessions on Victory sugges
 ts that it remained ashore. This would be entirely in keeping with its cha
 racter: a piece of exceptional decorative richness and mechanical sophisti
 cation\, designed to delight through its enamelled case and charming music
 al performance rather than serve as a practical or highly precise instrume
 nt of timekeeping in the demanding conditions of active service.\n\nJames 
 McCabe\n\nJames McCabe\, founder of the renowned London watchmaking family
 \, was born around 1748 in Ireland\, probably in Lurgan near Belfast. He w
 as active in Belfast by about 1770\, where early watches signed “James M
 cCabe\, Belfast” are recorded\, before moving to London early in 1775. E
 stablishing himself first in Bells Building\, Fleet Street\, he moved to 3
 4 King Street\, Cheapside. By 1788 he was at 8 King Street before later se
 ttling at 97 Cornhill\, Royal Exchange. McCabe quickly gained a reputation
  for fine watchmaking\, in 1781 he was admitted as an Honorary Freeman of 
 the Clockmakers’ Company\, later serving as Senior Warden. He married El
 izabeth Burn in 1779. By the 1790s the family had settled in Stoke Newingt
 on\, while the business continued to flourish from Cornhill. McCabe died i
 n 1811\, leaving behind one of the most successful London watchmaking ente
 rprises of his generation.\n\nAfter his death the firm was carried on by h
 is youngest son Robert McCabe\, who inherited the business on his mother
 ’s death in 1833 and operated from 32 Cornhill\, Royal Exchange. Robert 
 died in 1860\, after which his eldest son\, Robert Jeremy McCabe\, maintai
 ned the traditional “James McCabe\, Royal Exchange” signature until wi
 nding up the business in 1879/80. For just over a century\, the McCabe fam
 ily established itself as one of London’s most respected horological dyn
 asties\, producing a wide range of fine watches\, clocks and marine chrono
 meters. For a history of the life and work of the McCabe family see: P. E.
  Hackamack\, James McCabe\, Antiquarian Horology\, No. 3\, Vol. 10\, Summ
 er 1977\, pp. 308-316.\n\nPlease note that Condition 12 of the Conditions 
 of Business for Buyers is not applicable to this lot.
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251217
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