Henry Ester

Henry Ester, Geneva, circa 1635. Very fine and rare, small, 20K gold, turquoise-set, champlevé enamel, single-hand pendant watch with concealed dial. Two-body, “bassine fermée”, entirely set with graduated turquoises, the largest ones in the center, the inside of the front cover decorated in translucent blue, green and orange champlevé enamel in a distinctive foliate design. Gold, radial Roman hour chapters with half-hour dots, the center decoration matching that of the cover. Steel “tulip” hand. 23.5 mm, hinged, gilt brass full plate, turned baluster pillars, two of iron, two of gilt brass, fusee and gut-line, short four-wheel train with five-leaf pinions, three-spoke arched wheels, verge escapement, steel two-arm circular foliot, elongated gilt brass cock pierced and engraved in asymmetrical floral decoration.Signed on the movement.Diam. 29 mm. Notes ProvenancELord Sandberg Collection, published in the Sandberg book, pages 60-61. It is extremely rare to find gold watches from this period decorated with graduated precious stones. A similarly decorated watch by the same maker, with red garnets instead of turquoises, is in the Musée ational de la Renaissance, Château d'Ecouen, France, Inv. E.Cl. 20708. Henri Ester Fils, Master watchmaker from 1631 to 1676. He was the son of Jean-Henri Ester 1594-1669, a very famous watchmaker in Geneva, who specialized in pendant and form watches, and had as pupils Jacob Delacroix, in 1639, and Amy Deneria, in 1665. “Dictionnaire des Ho