Dent Pocket Watch

I recently inherited my great grandfathers pocket watch and I am curious about its history.

The case and movement both have 223 on them the case also has WP and a crown with 18 under it. The serial number on the movement is under the dial not on the photo I have uploaded

The movement just says "Dent London" no address.

Thanks

pictures are needed of the movement and dial ,though it sounds like an 18 karat gold watch and Dent can be a name of some considerable quality. And where is the photo ,I do not see it on this thread

Tom thanks for the response and yes I did forget the photo

and one more

Tom

the dial says Muralto watch co. It is in good shape but there are no hands

is there a chance the dial was replaced? a dial picture would also assist in sorting out what you have there

this is the movement under the dial

this is the dial

Tom thanks again for looking

now what we need is for Gerald or John or another European specialist to weigh in with their superior knowledge.I am suspicious with a famous maker name like Dent on the movement why it would have a Muralto dial (unlike any Muralto movement I could find) unless it was a Swiss fake??? or just a commercial re-branding for retail purposes. I would have thought that if Dent London was engraved on the movement that it would be on the dial as well. Also Karl ,your pictures are showing up small,640x480 pixel jpeg is the recommended size for this site. Usually you can set your camera to shoot pictures of that exact size.

Karl, many thanks for the small images, I actually managed to save them And the web page to compose a reply offline!

Hmmm, I'm going to suggest that with this watch having an imported 18K case, it probably was supplied by Dent, but Only as a retailer, not a maker.

Dent had Royal Warrants, and anything they made in their own right or of significant value, would have had any such warrant in force engraved on the plates.
Dent may have made Big Ben, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't retail lesser watches for the less well heeled buyer as part of their business model!

This is just one link to Dent's of London, I'd suggest doing a good search on Google for more info - loads out there!
http://www.dentlondon.com/

The movement in your watch is a Swiss lever type, an early one, say mid 1800's onwards, but a decent one at that!
Right angle lever escapement, probably with ruby slips for pallet jewels, and the lever is nicely counterpoised.
The balance is also a slim - cut compensation type, and probably bi-metallic (can't make out the different metals in the image), also timing screws.

The movement was also hand made! no cheapo this one!

If you look at the jewel settings, you will see scribe marks passing through the centres!
They were made by a depthing tool used to mark pivot centres to plant the wheel train - these would then have been drilled and jewelled by hand.

The mainspring barrel bridge is also a hand made job, and note the 'stopwork' on the barrel cap itself - doesn't appear to be a Geneva type though? looks to be more of a gear arrangement!

It's not too clear from the photo, but the jewel settings also appear to be fitted in their own detachable plate, which is screwed to the main pillar plate.

The minute wheel missing from the motionwork is a bummer, it'll be like winning the lottery finding one with the correct centres for both the pinion and main wheel! I wish you luck on that score! (unless you have it to hand - in which case, sighs of relief all round)!

I would say the dial didn't start life with the watch, more like several decades later!
The numerals are Deco' era in style, which is early 1900's, my guess is, the watch would have had an enamel type dial originally.

Certainly well worth restoring and sourcing the missing wheel plus dial/hands combination.

John