Swiss gold duplex made for the Chinese market Circa 1850

Gold and enamel watch with centre seconds 
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A very fine Swiss 18 carat gold and painted enamel pocket watch with duplex escapement and centre seconds, circa 1850. Made for the Chinese market, the back case with a scene of a country serenade. An Empire case, the bezel decorated with red, black, blue and white enamel, sprung and hinged back cover with a similar decorated border and a finely painted enamel scene of a seated shepherd playing a flute with a shepherdess and her female companion listening, in a wooded landscape with blue sky. Sprung and hinged gold cuvette. White enamel dial with radial Roman numerals and outer minutes/seconds track, Arabic quarter hour numerals and ovoid hands. Gilt Chinese calibre movement, foliate chased and engraved, hanging barrel, duplex escapement, bimetallic compensation balance with wedge shaped polished steel weights, index regulator. Movement is signed.
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Diameter: 58 mm
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Signed: Edouard Juvet  Fleurier
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The polychrome enamel scene on the back of this piece is painted on several watches (at least eight) by Edouard Juvet. In some pairs of his contemporary watches, decorated with other subjects, the scenes are in mirror images.

The painted enamel scene that adorns this piece is inspired by the Romantic English painting tradition of artists such as William Hamilton R(oyal) A(cademia) (1751-1801). Around 1790, Hamilton painted a series of paintings of the four parts of the day (Morning, Noon, Evening and Night), inspired by The Seasons by James Thompson (1700-1748) and engraved by Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815).