322,000 HKD
Bovet, Fleurier, No. 207. Made for the Chinese Market circa 1820. Very fine and rare, 18K gold and painted on enamel pocket watch with center seconds. Three-body, “Empire”, the bezels, pendant and bow decorated with red, blue and green champlevé enamel, theback cover decorated with a very finely painted on enamel depicting a young couple in a classical landscape, she with a lyre and hewith a walking staff. Hinged and sprung gilt metal cuvette. White enamel with radial Roman numerals, outer minute track and Arabicquarter hour numerals. Gold fancy hands. 46 mm., “Chinese caliber,” gilt, foliate chased and engraved, standing barrel, cylinderescapement, three-arm brass balance, blued steel flat balance-spring, index regulator.Movement signed, the case with indistinct marks.Diam. 57 mm. Notes Bovet A watchmaking dynasty founded by Edouard, Frédéric, Alphonse, Gustave, Charles-Henri, and Caroline Bovet, of Fleurier. In 1814, Edouard, Alphonse and Frédéric went to work in London, then the center of Europe's watch trade. His employer, the Magniac company, sent him to Canton, the only Chinese port then open to Western trade. In 1822, along with his two brothers in London, Alphonse and Frédéric, and his third brother Gustave, in Fleurier, Edouard founded a partnership for the China watch trade in Canton. Business boomed, and the company quickly transferred production to Fleurier. In 1824, Edouard's fourth brother, Charles- Henri, became a partner in the family company, joining
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2005-07-10
