Museum quality is the only fair assessment one can use to describe this lavishly decorated, yet complicated watch. The superb quality of the scalloped case, pearl setting and the spectacular craftsmanship of the enamel decoration illustrates perfectly some of Geneva’s most talented case makers and enamellists of the late 18th and early 19th century. The movement has been preserved in exceptional condition further distinguishing this outstanding enamel.

In the early 18th century demand for European watches by wealthy Chinese collectors began to grow significantly and it was during this period that watches were made specifically for the Chinese market. In the 19th Century, watches were crafted with elegant enamel portraits, pearl-set cases and in some instances highly engraved movements, sometimes fitted with duplex escapements.

Seldom do watches survive in such condition and one can only assume this watch has been sleeping away for a very long time. Highly attractive, of museum quality and made specifically for the Chinese market interest will ignite from as far as the East to the West.