A fine Regency gilt brass quarter-repeating duplex pocket watch movement James McCabe, London, circa 1825 The gilt full-plate single fusee four column-turned pillar movement with Harrison's maintaining power, duplex escapement and quarter-repeat mechanism with two hammers for denoting the hours and quarters positioned between the plates activated by a plunger at twelve o'clock, the backplate with removable mainspring barrel bridge, foliate scroll and grotesque mask balance cock applied with screw-set diamond endstone for the gold three arm sprung balance and signed Ja's McCabe, Royal Exchange, LONDON, No. 10253 to circumference, the white enamel Roman numeral dial with gold spade hands, with original dust cover engraved with repeat signature, the pillar plate 31.5mm (1.25ins) diameter. James McCabe senior is recorded in Baillie, G.H. Watchmakers & Clockmakers of the World as a 'very fine maker' who worked from Cheapside and Royal Exchange, London 1778-1811. The business was continued under his name by his sons including James junior who was apprenticed to Reid and Auld in Edinburgh, and Robert Jeremy who ran the business up until its closure in 1883. The single-wheel duplex watch escapement employed in the current lot is to a design developed in its final form by Thomas Tyrer, who patented it in 1782. The duplex escapement is a form of frictional rest escapement which when properly set-up can achieve a very good rate, however it can be temperamental due to its tight tolerances and susceptibility to shock. The duplex escapement was subsequently generally superseded by the more reliable lever escapement which was further developed and refined during the first decades of the 19th century.