French miniature Louis XVI style pendant watch Circa 1875

Rose gold open faced keyless cylinder watch by Antoine Frères
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A very fine French 18 carat rose gold open faced miniature Louis XVI style keyless cylinder pendant watch, circa 1875. Frosted gilt movement, bar calibre, wolf’s tooth winding, 8 jewels, cylinder escapement, frosted gilt three armed balance, flat blued steel balance spring, index regulator. Dedicated hinged gold cuvette. White enamel dial with Roman numerals, outer minute divisions and Arabic five minute numerals, original pierced gold Louis XV hands. Polished Louis XVI style case, polished. Dial and cuvette signed, case numbered.
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Diameter: 20 mm
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Signed: Antoine Frères Besançon
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The making of miniature watches has always been a challenge for watchmakers. Many have vied with each other to produce ever smaller mechanisms enabling them to boast of making ‘The World’s Smallest Watch’. The earliest known surviving example is a tiny gold and enamel clockwatch by an unknown German maker dating from circa 1610. This remarkable watch had once belonged to Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia (The Winter Queen) and was sold as part of the Harcourt Collection at Sotheby’s London in 1992.
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Breguet famously made a small number of miniature watches with keyless winding, these watches measuring only 18 mm, were certainly the smallest watches with keyless winding and hand setting produced by any firm before the mid 19th Century. An example was sold by Antiquorum Geneva on 20th October 1991, Lot 263. The world’s smallest tourbillon, made by Fritz-Andre Robert Charrue of Le Locle and dated 1945, was sold at Antiquorum, April 12, 2003, lot 559.