Swiss gold duplex made for the Chinese market Circa 1835

Gold, enamel and half pearl set pocket watch
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An important Swiss 18 carat gold and enamel open faced pocket watch studded with half pearls made for the Chinese market, circa 1835.
White enamel dial with Roman hour numerals, an outer minute track, subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock and blued spade & whip hands. An exquisitely painted polychrome enamel bouquet of summer flowers on the case back, showing roses, asters, poppy flowers and violets on a light grey ground, both bezels, pendant and bow are set with half pearls, the band is decorated with translucent red and blue champlevé enamelling on an opaque light blue ground, the pendant and bow are decorated to match.
The glazed movement with a steel bridge, mirror polished, blued duplex escapement and steel balance.
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Diameter: 59 mm
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Weight: 126 g
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Signed: Bovet à Fleurier
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Amongst the European makers of pocket watches who produced watches for the Chinese market, Ilbery in London and Bovet and Vaucher in Fleurier were the most renowned companies. They had branches in China and exported the movements and the wonderful enamelwork for the timepieces from Switzerland to China. The lavishly ornamented cases always had very distinctive decorations. The motifs were usually taken from nature and have lost nothing of their appeal 200 years later, they are still highly sought after collector’s pieces.
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Master Swiss watchmaker Edouard Bovet was one of the many who concentrated on the Chinese market. He arrived in Canton in 1830, carrying five top quality watches, all of which he sold immediately, to mandarins who paid him in gold bars. Delighted, he wrote to his brother in Switzerland, enthusing about the market potential and asking him to send more watches, but only of the very best quality, since this was where the demand lay and there was no difficulty about payment.

Kangxi (or K’ang-hsi), the 17th century Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, was a great admirer of the European sciences, especially that of horology, and he established several imperial workshops in which Chinese craftsmen made clocks and watches under the direction of European watchmakers, amongst whom were several masters. At Kangxi’s invitation, the Zougeese master watchmaker François-Louis Stadlin became director of the imperial workshops and the Emperor’s favourite.