Signed on movement. DIM. 117 x 85 x 51 mm. Perhaps the leading manufacturers of complicated watches in the 19th century London, Nicole Nielsen made watches and carriage clocks both for leading makers such as Frodsham but also marketed under their own name. The firm originated in 1840 when Adolphe Nicole, a partner in the firm of Nicole & Capt, Geneva, decided to settle in London where he ran a branch of the firm at 80b Dean Street. In 1844 he took out patent no 10348 for keyless winding and a form of chronograph. From 1858 the firm was at 14 Soho Square where it remained for the next 75 years. In 1862 Nicole patented his chronograph stop system which incorporated a flyback mechanism and in 1876 the place of the recently deceased Jules Capt was taken by Sophus Emil Nielsen, who in 1884 patented an "up and down" mechanism. In 1888 the firm was purchased by R.B. North, Nielsen being retained as joint managing director with Harrison Mill Frodsham. In 1888 the firm became Nicole Nielsen & Co. In 1903 North obtained a patent for 'revolving escapements' and soon afterwards the firm produced a short series of grande sonnerie carriage clocks fitted with tourbillon escapements. From 1904 onwards the firm began to manufacture speedometers at first selling the output to S. Smith & Co, later to Frodsham. In 1917 the naine of the firm was changed to North & Sons Ltd, continuing in business until 1933. Magnificently made, humpback clocks by Nicole Nielsen, inspired by the design of Breguet, were made in extremely small numbers. Most certainly made for a man of great importance (John Theodore Prestige) and engraved with his family crest and initials and also inscribed under the base plate, John Theodore Prestige's watch chain 1827-1892, no further information could be found. This particular example has been kept in perfect condition in its travel case, and is one of the most complicated version ever seen, not only featuring tourbillon and grande and petite sonnerie (as on some other examples), but with the perpetual calendar and 7 day power reserve indication. Literature: Vaudrey Mercer, The Frodshams, the Story of a Family of Chronometer Makers, London, 1981, pp 198-204.