French gold decorated verge watch with chatelaine Circa 1800

Gold decorative chatelaine watch by Breguet
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An extremely rare French 18 Carat gold, enamel, diamond and half pearl set open faced verge pocket watch with chatelaine, circa 1800. Full plate movement, three arm brass balance. White enamel dial with Arabic numerals. The case back shows the allegory of friendship portrayed by a young boy and a young lady, two banners beset with pearls in the upper half saying Ca Ce(st) (This is) and D’Amitie (Friendship) the polychrome enamel painting is framed by a border of rose cut diamonds, translucent cobalt blue enamel and split pearls. Comes with a matching three part chatelaine adorned with split pearls, it consists of several gold chains made of round and navette shaped links, ornamented with a double sided enamel badge painted with shepherdesses and four ornaments: a key, signet, hook and pendant, also accompanied by the original silk lined Morocco presentation box.
Dial signed,
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Diameter: 48 mm
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Length chatelaine: 250 mm
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Weight: 82 g
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Signed: Breguet à Paris
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This timepiece is an Abraham-Louis Breguet imitation. Breguet was the best and the most renowned watchmaker of his time. He was also a most sought after victim of counterfeiting, which made him create a secret signature to distinguish his authentic works from the forgeries. A large number of counterfeit watches with Breguet’s forged signature were produced during his lifetime and even after his death. Most of these watches were of poor quality or not even of a type ever produced by Breguet (for example, musical or quarter repeating watches with automaton jacquemarts). Fakes often appear to be of genuine Breguet origin, but to the eyes of a connoisseur, the quality and technical details make the forgery glaringly obvious.