Courvoisier & Comp., La Chaux-de-Fonds, Case No. 633, Calibre Bagnolet, 47 mm, 41 g, circa 1830

A very fine, rare gold enamel pocket watch with ultraflat Bagnolet calibre in a lavishly decorated enamel case
Case: 18k gold. Dial: eccentric silvered dial. Movm.: full plate movement, keywind, cylinder escapement, three-arm brass balance.

The pocket watch is lavishly chased and ornamented with floral engraving on both sides. The dial on the front is decorated with flowers; above it is a small bouquet of flowers with opaque and translucent enamelling. The back shows an opaque enamel cartouche with the "etching" style painting of a young woman in traditional costume playing the lute.

In the bagnolet caliber the movement is inverted and the train reversed. The idea was to make a very thin watch by reducing the thickness of the bridges and the dial and to eliminate the cuvette. Philippe Samuel Meylan is credited with the invention of the bagnolet caliber.

Brothers Henri-Louis and Philippe Auguste Courvoisier traded from 1842 on under the name "Courvoisier Frères" . When more brothers joined the partnership in 1882, they changed the company name to "Courvoisier Fils". Specialising in high quality watches, they were commissioned by the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds to create a watch for the Prussian King William IV; at the time this ultra-flat watch was supposedly the thinnest in the world. The tourbillon movement invented by the Swiss Paul Loichot (which he turned in the case so it would be visible face-sided) was patented for the Courvoisier brothers on July 4th, 1905 under the number 19062 and the name "Mobilis".