French silver hunting cased cylinder pocket watch Circa 1820

Silver cylinder watch with independent dead centre seconds by Grellier
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A fine and rare French silver hunting cased two train independent dead centre seconds cylinder pocket watch, circa 1820. Gilt brass movement, standing barrels for both trains, fully jeweled ruby cylinder escapement, three armed balance with parachute on the upper pivot, blued steel flat balance spring with bimetallic temperature compensation curb on the index regulator. Hinged gilt brass cuvette. White enamel dial with Roman numerals, outer minute track, original gold Breguet hour and minute hands, blued steel centre seconds hand. Case engine turned à grains d’orge, bolt at 8 o’clock for locking the centre seconds. Cuvette signed.
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Diameter: 59 mm
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Signed: Grellier à St. Pierre Mque
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It is extremely unusual to find a watch signed with Martinique as the place of origin. This watch is of French construction and would either have been exported to Martinique for sale or perhaps made there by a French émigré watchmaker. Martinique, an overseas department of France, is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea with a land area of 1,128 km². Its official language is French, although almost all of its inhabitants also speak Antillean Creole (Créole Martiniquais).
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Independent dead centre seconds. In 1776, in Geneva, Moise Pouzait invented the independent dead seconds mechanism in which the movement has two trains. One is conventional and the second has a sweep seconds hand that can be stopped without stopping the main train.