Lot 190

Bovet à Fleurier / Voumard à Locle, Movement No. 924, Case No. 924, 57 mm, 123 g, circa 1840
An important and extremely rare gold enamel pocket watch with jumping centre seconds studded with half pearls and original gold enamel key for the Chinese market - "bouquet of summer flowers"
Case: 18k gold, Geneva 18k gold stamp 1815-1881, punched "B" between two dots at the top and bottom (Bovet, Fleurier). Polychrome enamelled medallion on the back side, lavishly engraved gold dome. Dial: enamel. Movm.: bridge movement, keywind, Chinese duplex escapement, three-arm steel balance.
The exquisitely painted enamel medallion on the back is of supreme quality and shows a beautiful flower arrangement with roses, violets and cornflowers on light blue ground. The case band, the pendant and the bow are decorated with polychrome Champlevé enamelling in a pattern of translucent red, yellow and blue panels on opaque turquoise-coloured ground. The bezels on both sides as well as the pendant, the pusher and the bow are studded with half pearls – a striking watch in excellent condition.
Amongst the European makers of pocket watches who produced watches for the Chinese market, Ilbery in London and Bovet and Vaucher in Fleurier were the most renowned companies. They had branches in China and exported the movements and the wonderful enamelwork for the timepieces from Switzerland to China. The lavishly ornamented cases always had very distinctive decorations; the motifs were usually taken from nature and have lost nothing of their appeal 200 years later – they are still highly sought-after collector’s pieces. Only very few of these enamel ornaments have survived the years undamaged – this makes a watch in its original condition like this one even more precious.