A late 19th century 18 carat gold, keyless wind, half hunter pocket watch by Thomas Mowbray & Son of London, plus chain, fob and medal.

We have a little collection of pocket watches.  They are amazingly good value for money and each is a slice of social history.  I don't know much about Thomas Mowbray, but most of the watch making in London in the 19th century happened in Farringdon, where I was yesterday.  That's still the best place to find a pocket watch repairer in London.

Farringdon was also "Little Italy" in the 19th century as a result of a wave of Italian immigrants mainly from northern Italy.  Lots of them were instrument makers and some became very successful.  There is still a big Italian influence in Farringdon with London's oldest Italian church, with its delicatessen next door where only Italian is spoken.  Every year (but not 2020), St Peter's church has a procession in honour of Our Lady of Mount Carmel around the streets of Farringdon in July, which ends at a "sagra", a street fair where much pasta and Peroni is consumed.

The chain of the watch has a fob with two coloured stones, which look to me like the marbles facing the churches of northern Italy, and a medal which says "Vittorio Emanuele II Regno d'Italia 1865".  Vittorio Emanuele was the king of Piedmont-Sardinia until he became the first king of the united Italy in 1861.  I'm not sure about the significance of 1865.  But I like to imagine a successful Italian immigrant to Farringdon proudly buying himself an expensive gold pocket watch from a local maker and decorating it with marks of his allegiance to his home country.