Lot 126

Attributed to Bovet à Fleurier, Case No. 4233, 63 mm, 161 g, circa 1860
An extremely rare enamel pocket watch of high quality with engraved movement, caliber Tixier, studded with half-pearls for the Chinese market - "Bouquet of Spring Flowers". To the best of our knowledge there are only a few other watches with Tixier caliber left.
Case: silver, gilt, enamel, split pearls, glazed movement. Dial: enamel. Movm.: bridge movement, engraved, keywind, standing barrel, Chinese duplex escapement, monometallic balance with blued steel weights.
This pocket watch impresses because of its extraordinary size and condition. The exquisitely painted enamel medallion on the back is of supreme quality and shows a beautiful flower arrangement with roses, dahlias, tulips, violets, forget-me-nots and other spring flowers on azure ground. The bezels on both sides as well as the pendant and the bow are studded with half-pearls.
Jean Tixier was born in France and came to Fleurier around 1850 where he became an important figure to produce goods for the Chinese market; it was due to his influence that the design of the movements for this market changed quite considerably. Tardy lists the name Jean Tixier - and we can assume that the entry refers to this Tixier – for a village watchmaker at Clermont-Ferrand. He is recorded to have worked there from 1840 to 1854; then the Frenchman presumably moved to Fleurier. In Fleurier he was soon involved in the production of goods for the Chinese marked and made important changes to the movements designed for this customer group. Tixier used a symmetrically laid-out movement and updated the existing so-called "Chinese" caliber with a 3/4-plate. He created a number of calibers, some with an 8 day power reserve. His caliber was also used when in 1858 Pelaz, a maker from Geneva decided to enamel movements for the Chinese market.
Edouard Bovet born in Fleurier, Switzerland in 1797, son of a local master-watchmaker, Jean-Frédéric Bovet. Edouard had four brothers, Frédéric, Alphonse, Gustave, Charles-Henri, and a sister, Caroline. In 1814 Edouard Bovet is against Neuchâtel's return to Prussian rule after the fall of Napoleon. After his apprenticeship, he leaves Fleurier with Alphonse and Frédéric to work as a watchmaker in London -then the centre of Europe's watch trade and manufacture. 1818 Edouard Bovet's employer, the Magniac company, sends him to Canton, the only Chinese port open to Western trade. He leaves England on the East India merchantman, Orwell, on April 20, arriving in Canton via the Cape of Good Hope on August 16. 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. Since 1822 Bovet, now living in Canton, founds a partnership company for the China watch trade with his two brothers in London, Alphonse and Frédéric, and his third brother Gustave, watchmaker in Fleurier. The charter of the company is drawn up in London on May 1. Business booms, and the company quickly transfers production to Fleurier.

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