Swiss 18K gold repeating verge Jacquemarts automaton Circa 1820

Gold quarter repeating automaton
–
An attractive Swiss 18 carat gold open faced quarter repeating verge pocket watch with automaton and three Jacquemarts, circa 1820. Full plate movement, verge escapement, key wind, two hammers, two gongs, three-arm brass balance. White enamel chapter ring with Arabic hours, outer minute track and a central three-colour gold open-work automaton modelled as an elegant Renaissance-style house façade against a blued steel background, in the top half a cut-out in the form of a balcony flanked by two, three-colour gold vases with flowers, when the repeater is released, a bearded Jacquemart appears from the left and moves across to strike the hour on a bell on the right with his hammer, in the lower half of the scene, two winged putti alternately strike the two bells hanging from the upper balcony. Plain case, reeded band, maker’s mark OPG. Case numbered.
–
Diameter: 55 mm
–
Weight: 139 g
–
Signed: No name
–
The automaton Jacquemarts on the dial refer to the Medieval way of public time announcing which was by real people striking every hour on a bell situated at the top of the city tower. Later, life-size robots, called Jacquemarts or Jacks, amused the public by striking bells in large public clocks, of which, probably the most famous is the one in Venice at Piazza San Marco and the oldest (1383) in the tower of Dijon.