BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID:-//eluceo/ical//2.0/EN VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:eea4079abb1f2c9125b1adb8061121ee DTSTAMP:20260404T062859Z SUMMARY:charles-frodsham-london - Date de vente : 08/12/2025 DESCRIPTION:Nom du lots : Charles Frodsham\, London\n\nMovement: frosted gi lded two-thirds plate fusee movement supplied by Joseph Preston & Sons\, s pring detent escapement\, large free-sprung bi-metallic compensation balan ce\, blued steel helical hairspring\, diamond endstone\, the backplate sig ned By Appointment to the King\, Chas Frodsham\, 115\, New Bond Street\, London\, late of 84 Strand\, AD Fmsz\, No. 08513\n\nDial: white enamel di al attributed to Willis\, Roman numerals\, subsidiary dials for constant s econds and up-and-down indication\, blued steel hands\, the hour with doub le-spade taper\, signed Chas Frodsham\, 08513 AD Fmsz\n\nCase: 18k yello w gold\, front lid with blue enamel Roman chapters and minute ring\, swive ling thief-proof bow\, pendant stamped F.T for Fred Thoms\, polished gol d cuvette with aperture for winding and hand-setting\, engraved Edward Ch arles Grenfell 1904\, interior of front/back and cuvette with London hallm arks for 1903-04\, sponsor’s mark HMF for Harrison Mill Frodsham\, numb ered 08513\n\nSigned: movement and dial signed Charles Frodsham\, case a nd cuvette stamped HMF\n\nDiameter: 57.5 mm\n\nAccessories: accompanied b y E. Greenberg invoice dated July 29\, 1971\, detailing the purchase of fo ur timepieces\, including item No. 08513\, listing price as $2\,000.00\n\n Vaudrey Mercer\, The Frodshams\, Antiquarian Horological Society\, 1981\, p. 261.\n\nThe cuvette of this watch was almost certainly engraved for Edw ard Charles Grenfell (1870–1941)\, 1st Baron St Just. The year engraved\ , 1904\, is the same year Grenfell became a partner in the London banking house J. S. Morgan & Co.\, the British arm of J. P. Morgan & Co. of New Yo rk. At that time\, the London office acted as the European correspondent o f the New York partnership\, handling sterling transactions\, government l oans\, and bond issues for clients throughout Europe. Given the Morgans’ well-known patronage of Charles Frodsham\, it is tempting to speculate th at Grenfell may have been presented with this watch upon his appointment a s a partner. If not\, and the watch was purchased independently\, it would nevertheless have been a politically astute and symbolically appropriate choice for a leading figure in the Morgan firm.\n\nCharles Frodsham’s as sociation with the Morgan family began with Junius Spencer Morgan\, who in 1854 became a partner in the English branch of the banking house George P eabody & Co.\, later renamed J. S. Morgan & Co. The purchase of fine clock s and watches for the Morgan family was continued by John Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913)\, who in 1883 presented a complicated watch to his personal valet\, George William\, on the occasion of his marriage. The Morgans’ p urchases from Charles Frodsham & Co. continued until 1934\, with watches g iven as gifts to partners in the Morgan firm or to members of the family.\ n\nEdward Charles Grenfell was born in London and educated at Harrow and T rinity College\, Cambridge. He began his banking career at Brown\, Shipley & Co. before joining J. S. Morgan & Co. Following his appointment as part ner in 1904\, the firm was later renamed Morgan\, Grenfell & Co. in 1910. Grenfell was a director of the Bank of England and of the White Star Line\ , and played a key role in facilitating British and Allied purchases of mi litary hardware from the United States during the First World War\, transa ctions that passed through the Morgan firm in New York. He served as a Con servative MP from 1922 until 1935\, when he was elevated to the peerage as Baron St Just of Penwith. In 1913 he married Florence Emily Henderson and had one son\, Peter George (b. 1922)\, who succeeded as 2nd Baron St Just following his father’s death in 1941.\n\nFrodsham were particularly cel ebrated for their pocket chronometers\, and the present watch is an especi ally fine example. The ébauche was supplied to Frodshams by Joseph Presto n & Sons of Prescot\, Lancashire\, who specialised in the production of ch ronometers. Beyond the quality and finesse of its movement\, the watch fea tures a case by the distinguished maker Frederick Thoms and a dial attribu ted to the London enamel specialist Willis\, noted for their creamy white dials of unmatched quality. DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251208 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR