153,400 HKD
“Summer Bouquet” Bovet Fleurier, No. 491. Made for the Chinese market, circa 1840. Very fine, 18K gold, painted on enamel and pearl-set, center-seconds pocket watch with polished steel movement and duplex escapement. Three-body, the band, pendant and bow with champlevé enameled decoration, the back enamel panel painted with a fine composition of summer flowers on a pale lilac ground. Hinged glazed gold-rimmed cuvette. White enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minutes/seconds divisions, Arabic quarter hour numerals. Blued steel "ovoid" hands. Mirror-polished and blued steel, "Chinese" caliber with standing barrel, single wheel duplex escapement, bimetallic three-arm balance with wedge shaped blued steel weights, flat balance spring and index regulator. Movement signed. Diam. 57 mm. Notes For a discussion of watches made for the Chinese market, see pages 196 - 201. Bovet A watchmaking dynasty founded by Edouard, Frédéric, Alphonse, Gustave, Charles-Henri, and Caroline Bovet, of Fleurier. In 1822, a Bovet partnership was founded for the Chinese watch trade in Canton. In 1840, Bovet Frères et Cie was established in Fleurier, and in 1864, the Bovet watch production was sold to Bovet’s manufacturing inspectors in Fleurier, Jules Jéquier and Ernest Bobillier, soon joined by Ami Leuba. In 1888, Bovet Frères was founded under the direction of Alexis Landry, who served his apprenticeship in Fritz Bovet’s workshop in Fleurier, producing ebauches for Chinese watches and si
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-11-25
