Swiss 18K gold open faced bras en l’air pocket watch Circa 1790

Gold bras en l’air watch
–
A fine and very rare Swiss 18 carat gold bras en l’air pocket watch, circa 1790. Matte gilt full plate movement, Ø 50 mm, cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, three-arm balance, flat balance spring, pierced and chased continental balance clock with polished steel endplate, silver regulation dial. White enamel dial with a sector for the hours on the right and the minutes on the left, a golden sun between, decorated with gilt foliate, a black and white checkerboard floor design in the lower half, an applied gilt-brass figure in the centre, his arms raising to indicate the time activated by depressing the pendant. Polished case. Case numbered.
–
Diameter: 57 mm
–
Signed: No name
–
Bras en l’air is a clock or watch in which the time is indicated by a human figure with moving arms that indicate the hours on the left and the minutes on the right on a vertical scale.
–
The present timepiece is a very fine example of the so-called bras en l’air watches, featuring one of the most original ways to display time. Few watches of this type were made towards the end of the 18th century.