Austrian gilded brass and half pearls set verge watch Circa 1800

Gilt watch with skeletonized vase form movement
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An Austrian gilded brass and half pearl set key wind pocket watch, circa 1800. The case is glazed on both sides with half pearl set bezels and a pendant decorated to match, signed and numbered Leopold Köstler in Gratz No. 561. It has an eccentric, small white enamel dial with Arabic hour numerals, outer minute divisions and spade hands on the face. The skeletonized full plate movement is in the shape of a vase and fully decorated with an engraved foliate pattern on both sides. It is further fitted with a verge escapement, chain and fusee, three arm ring balance.
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Diameter: 51 mm
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Weight: 67 g
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Signed: Leopold Köstler in Gratz
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Only nine other timepieces of this kind are known. Most of them are in important collections and museums, like:
The Württembergisches Landesmuseum in Stuttgart;
The Musée Historique de Bâle in Basel (with a later dial);
The Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva (formerly in the Collection Marcel van Cauwenbergh, sold by Antiquorum in Hong Kong on March 30, 1989, for EUR 25.197);
The Time Museum in Rockford, Illinois, USA, had a very similar piece (sold by Sotheby’s in New York on June 19, 2002, for USD 16.730);
The Musée d’Art et d’Histoire in Geneva also owned an example, but it was stolen on November 24, 2002;
An important German private collection.