Gold silver enamel and diamond set Boule de Genève Circa 1900

Ball-form watch with matching brooch by Henry Capt
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An exquisite and extremely rare Swiss gold, silver, enamel and diamond-set Boule de Genève with a corresponding brooch, circa 1900. Rare and extremely fine miniature lever movement with very unusual movement construction, the same calibre as in Patek Philippe spherical watches. White enamel dial with Arabic hours and gold outer minute dots, blued steel hands. Purple enamelled case and brooch set with diamonds, the case glazed on both sides, the loop of the watch and hook of the brooch punched with the Russian gold hallmark 56, as well as KF for Karl Fabergé and AH with a star for August Frederik Hollming, winding and time-setting by rotating the bezel. The brooch with a representation of a sea snake, symbolic of St. Petersburg, set with rose-cut diamonds, the eye set with a small ruby. Case numbered, movement signed L. Gallopin & C – Henry Capt Genève and numbered, case and movement with matching numbers. Comes with an expert’s certificate.
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Diameter watch: 18 mm
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Length: 60 mm
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Signed: Henry Capt Genève
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August Frederik Hollming (1854-1915) master craftsman at Fabergé, St. Petersburg since 1880.
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A Boule de Genève (Geneva ball) is a type of pendant watch in the shape of a small ball or sphere originating from Geneva, Switzerland. The dial is usually at the bottom of the sphere facing the floor, at the opposite side of the jump ring on the upper part of the sphere. Although there are examples with a front view face. Usually, they were Arabic numeral dials, sometimes Roman, and from the 1950s different types of hour markers were also used. This objet de vertu frequently came with a matching brooch, chain or chatelaine. The term Boule de Genève is generic, it doesn’t mean that a given watch was necessarily made in the city or Canton of Geneva. Geneva balls were crafted in different sizes, styles, materials and decorative techniques, such as gold, silver, other metals, guilloché enamel, enamel, cloisonné, adorned with diamonds, pearls etc. They were intended as an accessory mainly for women.
The first Boules de Genève date from the 1860s, marketed by firms such as Patek Philippe from 1866. They featured the winding mechanism invented by Marius Lecoultre (1847-1915) of Geneva and patented in Switzerland in 1889 (the Swiss patent office was not created until 1888). Winding by rotating the hemisphere containing the dial and time-setting by pressing the protruding, cylindrical-shaped button at one side of the orb while turning the said hemisphere clockwise or counterclockwise. These watches have no key or crown. Lecoultre’s winding system was also used in some ring watches and wristwatches of the time.
In the 1878 Pairs Exposition Universelle, Patek Philippe devoted a showcase to these ball form timepieces. And years later sold pieces to royalty such as Sultan Hussein Kamel of Egypt in 1887 and Empress Teresa of Brazil in 1888.