Yersin

A delightful Parisian miniature gold enamel pocket watch

Sold

estimated

1.800—2.500 €

Price realized

2.300 €

specific features

Case

18 K gold/enamel, studded with half pearls, charge mark Henri Clavel, Parisian guild punch mark "X" for the years 1785-1786.

Dial

Enamel.

Movement

Miniature full plate movement, keywind, chain/fusee, three-arm steel balance.

Diam.34 mm

Circa1785

Ctry.France

Wt.32 g

The case is set on both sides with a border of half pearls. The back lid is engine-turned and elaborately translucent enamelled in cobalt blue, framed by a border of gold paillon decoration. In the centre is an "en-grisaille" enamel miniature depicting "Hector's Farewell to Andromache".

Tardy's "Dictionnaire des Horlogers Francais" lists two watchmakers with the name Yersin: Jean-Louis and Jonas-Louis. Both were resident in the Rue St-André des Arcs in Paris in 1777/1778. Jonas-Louis became master in 1778 and was still working as a watchmaker until 1787. However, the Paris archives (Archives Nationales) show that it is one and the same person, "Jonas Louis ou Jean Louis".
Jonas-Louis was born in Fleurier in 1752, moved to Paris and worked there as a watchmaker and clockmaker. He returned to his homeland with some regularity and married twice there. He was acquainted with Jean Philippe André and Pierre Frédéric Droz. His sister Marie Esabeau Yersin was married to Jean-Jacques-Henri Berthoud, who was Jonas-Louis Yersin's business partner for several years. Jonas-Louis Yersin died on 29 August 1834 in Yverdon, Vaud at the age of 82.
Source: www.watch-wiki.org/index.php?title=Yersin,_Jonas-Louis, as of 10/29/2021