Fine example of a very rare early minute repeating watch by an eminent maker. Josiah Emery (c. 1725-1797) Josiah Emery was a Genevan watchmaker who set up in England at 33 Cockspur Street, Charing Cross, London. Honorary member of the Clockmakers Company in 1781 he made very fine cylinder watches, but became famous as the first watchmaker in the world after Thomas Mudge to produce a watch with a lever escapement. He made about thirty six lever watches between 1782 and 1795. He also used the pivoted detent escapement for precision watches. Louis Recordon succeeded him in 1797. Three of Emery's lever watches were i mported into France and served as a model for Robert Robin for a series of precision watches that he produced at the end of the 18th century. One of these watches was shown to Louis Berthoud who used the escapement several times, attempted to impr ove it but finally abandoned it in favour of the pivoted detent escapement Between 1792 and 1796, Emery submitted four chronometers to the Board of Longitude, but received no encouragement. During a visit to Geneva, he studied the wellknown chronometer made by Demote & Magnin and corrected an error in the escape wheel.