Swiss gold quarter repeating virgule watch Circa 1810-1820

Gold, enamel and pearl seed quarter repeater
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A rare Swiss 18 Carat gold, enamel and seed pearl open faced quarter repeating key wound virgule pocket watch with start and stop mechanism, circa 1810-1820. Full plate gilt finished virgule movement, chain fusée, three armed balance wheel, pierced and engraved balance cock, silvered regulator disc, repeating on a hammer onto a bell in the case, activated through the push plunger. White enamel dial with Arabic numerals, outer minute track and gilt hands. Engraved case, the back cover with central polychrome enamel scene depicting Aesop’s fable the Goose That Laid the Gold Egg, set against blue guilloché, all set within a light blue and dark blue enamel, gilt and seed pearl faux stage, the band with white and blue enamel decorative motif, blue enamel floral swag to the bezel, a start and stop lever at the 3 o’clock. Dial and movement signed.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Signed: No name
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A seed pearl is a small natural pearl. Usually less than a one quarter grain in weight and smaller than 2mm in diameter, off round in shape. They are formed in either a saltwater oyster or freshwater mussel. In the nineteenth century seed pearls were immensely popular. The pearls were imported from India and China.
Today the term ‘seed pearl’ is more widely used to describe a small pearl that has been created as a result of a pearl farmer trying to stimulate the formation of a cultured pearl in a mollusc.