The Adams & Perry Lancaster Watch: Perry’s Patent Plate Design Inspired by “Hogarth’s Line of Beauty”

The premier watch movement introduced in 1874 by the Adams & Perry Watch Company features an elegant swooping plate profile that appeals to anyone with an eye for aesthetics. This unique plate design was patented by Edwin Hathaway Perry on April 11, 1871, several years before Perry partnered with John C. Adams to organize their watch company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Perry possessed a keen interest in the inherent beauty edified by the essence of divine order. This careful appreciation for artistic detail is demonstrated in the application submitted to the United States Patent Office, describing aspects of the design as an “elegant and pleasing design” and using technical terms mixed with poetic language like “the swells of the radiuses constituting the excess of the superficial half circle plate.”

We are further plunged into Perry’s appreciation for beauty as he describes the iconic profile curves of the plate “composed of a sinuous line, resembling ‘Hogarth’s line of beauty,’ the greater part of which is a swelling curve…”

Perry was obviously familiar with the study and application of artistic forms, as exhibited in his reference to Hogarth’s work. 

William Hogarth published The Analysis of Beauty in 1753, describing his theories of visual beauty in particular forms and compositions. The central concept introduced in his book was the “Line of Beauty,” a graceful serpentine curved line that evoked liveliness and movement. 

Without a doubt, Perry aimed to use this elegant serpentine curve as inspiration to create a sleek and aesthetic watch plate design. The movements produced by Adams & Perry tend to captivate the eye, a pleasing result achieved by Mr. Perry’s ability to exploit our natural sense of beauty.