The present watch is a fine example of one of George Graham’s early cylinder watches, the beautifully decorated repoussé outer case stamped with the maker’s mark HR. The movement with Graham’s cylinder escapement is set with a diamond endstone, a characteristics of higher grade watches.

George Graham (1673-1751), nephew by marriage of Thomas Tompion, inherited his business and his official title of best British watchmaker, which he largely earned, by contributing several major inventions to his art. After perfecting the cylinder escapement created by Tompion, Graham invented the mercury compensated pendulum, which eliminated the negative effects of the meteorological environment on the movement.

In 1715, he built the "dead escapement", which eliminated any recoil and allowed a degree of precision hitherto unknown in pendulums and watches. The system was used for a century and a half. For many, Graham was also the pioneer of the chronograph since he was the first to measure the duration of an event with a pendulum. Like his uncle, Graham was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey, among the pantheon of England's great men.

For an illustration of Graham's cylinder escapement see Watches by Cecil Clutton and George Daniels, 1965 edition, pl. 23.