Fine Swiss gold bloodstone and diamond set watch Circa 1860

Gold, bloodstone and diamond-set watch and chain
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A Swiss gold, bloodstone and diamond-set open faced cylinder pocket watch with matching chain, circa 1860. Gilt cylinder movement.
Gold cuvette signed. White enamel dial with Roman numerals and paste set hands. The case back with bloodstone surrounded by diamonds, applied sword motif. Comes with a matching chain with bloodstone bars highlighted with rose cut diamonds.
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Diameter: 25 mm
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Length of chain: 260 mm
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Signed: Lior Suc. de Lapar Paris
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Bloodstone is a beautiful, mostly, dark green stone that features red or brown spots that form as a result of impurities in the iron oxide. These spots look like blood splatters, giving the stone its English name. The stone is also referred to as a heliotrope, and gets this name from the Greek words helio, meaning ‘sun’, and tropos, meaning ‘toward the sun’. It’s said that the colour is also reminiscent of heliotrope plants that face towards the sun. The solid green colour that encompasses the rest of the stone is brought in as a result of the amphibole or Chlorite minerals found in the green Chalcedony. Chalcedony is a cryptocrystalline form of silica that’s composed of fine intergrowths of moganite and quartz, the minerals that make up most agate stones too. Because of its varied composition, the green in bloodstone is not always evenly distributed and may have blue or yellow streaks in addition to green. It has been a popular gemstone for at least two thousand years.