Attributed to Bovet à Fleurier, Case No. 11824, 63 mm, 159 g, circa 1835

A fine and rare enamel pocket watch "bouquet of summer flowers" with jumping centre seconds and 8 day power reserve for the Chinese market
Case: brass, gilt, polychrome enamelled back side depicting a bouquet of summer flowers on a pink ground, half pearl-set bezels on the front and back side, reeded band, the pendant and bow set with half pearls. Dial: enamel, radial Roman numerals, jumping centre seconds, blued flower hands. Movm.: bridge movement, steel, mirror-polished, keywind, twin barrel, steel train, glazed movement, duplex escapement, three-arm steel balance.

Edouard Bovet
Master Swiss watchmaker Edouard Bovet was one of the many who concentrated on the Chinese market. He arrived in Canton in 1830 carrying five top-quality watches, all of which he sold immediately, to mandarins who paid him in gold bars. Delighted, he wrote to his brother in Switzerland, enthusing about the market potential and asking him to send more watches, but only of the very best quality, since this was where the demand lay and there was no difficulty about payment. The 17th century Ching Dynasty Emperor K'ang-Hsi was a great admirer of the European sciences, especially that of horology, and he established several imperial workshops in which Chinese craftsmen made clocks and watches under the direction of imported European watchmakers, amongst whom were several masters. At K'ang-Hsi's invitation, the Zougeese master watchmaker François-Louis Stadlin became director of the imperial workshops, and the Emperor's favourite.