18ct yellow gold Swiss enamel set open face pocketwatch. Made 1840's
18ct yellow gold Swiss enamel set open face pocketwatch. Made 1840's
Regular price
£15,000.00 GBP
Regular price
Sale price
£15,000.00 GBP
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Information
- Brand: SWISS (unsigned)
- Year: 1840's
- Model: N/A
- Reference: N/A
- Calibre: N/A
- Movement: Manual
- Material: 18ct yellow gold
- Features/complications: Open face case with gold and enamel featuring enamel detailing around the circumference, surrounding the dial and on the bow. Centre of case back painted with enamel scene depicting a boat on the river Bosphorus at sunset. Gilded dust cover with apertures for winding and setting
- Dial: White enamel dial with outer minute track featuring Eastern Arabic numerals with steel skeletonised hands.
- Case dimensions: Diameter 46 mm | Thickness 10 mm
- Bracelet/strap: N/A
- Accessories: N/A
- SKU: 2244
Essay
Watchmakers from Geneva, Paris and Blois initiated trade relations with the Ottoman Empire in the beginning of the 17th century. Soon after, a colony of Geneva watchmakers was settled in Galata, a district of Constantinople reserved to the Westerners.
Among these colonials was Isaac Rousseau, the father of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, presented in Les Confessions as “horologer du sérail”, meaning ‘’watchmaker at the service of the Sultan I’’.