An oxidised brass cased aneroid pocket surveying

An oxidised brass cased aneroid pocket surveying barometer with altimeter scale E.R. Watts and Son, London, circa 1920 The 2.75 inch circular silvered register inscribed Surveying Aneriod, Compensated, E.R. WATTS & SON, LONDON, 1306 to the recessed centre within concentric scale calibrated for barometric inches divided into twentieths and outer scale calibrated in feet from 0 to 6,000 anticlockwise opposing 0-2000 clockwise divided for 20 foot intervals, the periphery with rotating ring engraved with a Vernier 0-20 scale also divided into twentieths, the cylindrical bevel-glazed case fitted with pivoted magnifying glass and milled rotating crown for moving and viewing the Vernier scale, with suspension ring and inscribed with retailer s signature JAMES MURRAY & Co., CALCUTTA to rear, 7.6cm (3ins) diameter. Provenance: Private collection, Hampshire (ref. B76). The firm of Edward Richard Watts and Son is recorded in Banfield, Edwin BAROMETER MAKERS AND RETAILERS 1660-1900 as trading from 123 Camberwell Road, London from 1899. During the 1920 s the firm became E.R. Watts and Son Limited and amalgamated with Adam Hilger Limited to form Hilger and Watts in 1948. The retailer s signature to the back of the current lot indicates that it was supplied through the celebrated firm of watch and marine chronometer makers, James Murray and Company, who moved to Calcutta in around 1880 and traded until 1847.