Swiss gold cylinder watches for the Chinese market Circa 1830

Gold, enamel, and pearl set mirror image watches attributed to Frères Oltramare
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An extremely fine and very rare Swiss mirror image pair of 18 Carat gold, enamel, and pearl set quarter repeating centre seconds musical cylinder pocket watches, playing music on the hour or at will, made for the Chinese market circa 1830. Gilt brass movement, fixed going barrel, cylinder escapement, three armed plain brass balance with blued steel flat balance spring, sur plateau musical movement with a fixed barrel, 21 vibrating teeth, repeating on gongs activated by depressing the pendant. Hinged gold cuvette. Gold champlevé dial with Roman numerals, outer minute divisions, acanthus engraved decoration between the numerals, engine-turned centre and outermost border, original blued steel serpentine hands. The case back with a very finely painted on enamel scene of two ladies in despair as a young man goes off to serve his country, split pearl set bezels, engine-turned band, bolt at six o’clock to activate the music, lever at four o’clock protruding from under the cuvette for music/silent. The left hand watch: case punched with the mark of Frères Oltramare, movement and case numbered. The right hand watch: movement and case numbered.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Signed: No name
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Frères Oltramare. Originally from Genova, the family settled in Geneva in the 17th century. Branches of the family were engaged in the watchmaking trade by the second half of the 18th century. The watchmaker Pierre Oltramare (1753-1827) had apprenticed under the ‘maître horloger’ Jean Pattey of Passiery in 1768. The mark of F.O. is that of Louis-David-Benjamin and Jean Hughes. Both trained as ‘monteur de boites en or’, makers of gold watch cases. They worked together in an informal association and later entered a maker’s mark as the Frères Oltramare between 1810 and 1811. When Geneva was liberated from French occupation they re registered the same mark on November 4th, 1815, their workshop was at Rue de Coutance 82. The two brothers ended their partnership on March 31, 1826.