Featured Brooch / Watch conundrum

Well, it is a conundrum to me!
So I bought this only as the clasp looked unusual.
It has a photo in it which I’m fairly sure is a later addition.
The clasp has a double hinge and a double clasp as if you could vary the thickness of whatever was in the frame. No point on the pin so not practical as a brooch.
(Why would you make a clasp that would accommodate different sizes?)
Initially I couldn’t see a hallmark although I got a very strong positive reaction on a touch stone so I took it apart and gave it a good clean as it was filthy and eventually found a Lion Passant, Anchor and a very distinctive O that I think is 1888. ( scoops out of the top of the O).
Then I found a makers mark that is either R.B or B.B as the bottom of the first letter is missing. Can’t get a photo of that at the moment.
If R.B it could be Robert Bragge from the English Watch co. Could this be an watch case repurposed as a brooch of sorts? Or am I adding 2+2 and making 6?!
If so what sort of watch or am I just way off as usual?
Is this style usual for 1888 or am I way off there too......
Thanks as always

 

My first thought on that might be a hair ornament; you wouldn't want the sharp point then. The photo was definitely cut down and added later. No idea what was in there originally.

 

It appears that before it was as it is now, it was a more conventional sharp-pointed pin type of brooch. The C clasp for that pin is still there. It now has a catch specifically made to go with the square, patented, bar. I think this has been altered a final time for wear on a high collar, where the bar would have passed through holes, without the need to pierce the fabric. Maybe ladies were complaining of being stabbed in the throat & someone invented this as a remedy.

 

Looking at your post again, I follow it this time. The hinge for the earlier pointed pin is still there too. A conventional pin was replaced by this patented fastener mechanism.

 

It was something else to start with,the balls and pin/clasp looks like they was added.Put together from scraps in a watch maker/goldsmiths bench.

 

The lady in the photo shows the fashion, although with a much smaller brooch than in many other photos I have seen.

 

Omnibus fare maybe, for the lady who didn't have a spare hand for a purse?

 

Wow, well done INH!, that is so similar.

 

Aha!, I see now it originally had the flat bar AND a sharp pin which is now lost!.
Brilliant, conundrum solved. Thankyou DaveyDempsey.

 

OK, that explains that. Think it was made to suit either a lady's needs or a gent's.

 

Coin is about 80 years too late but fits like a glove!.
Would you get a new pin soldered on or just leave it as it is?

 

Do you have a spare 1888 to sell?!
Also would you get that pin mended if it was yours?

 

Just need to push the hinge pin out and replace pin and hinge pin,no soldering needed.