English 18 Carat gold enamel and diamond set pocket watch Circa 1790

Gold open faced verge pocket watch
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An extremely fine English 18 Carat gold, painted on enamel and diamond set pocket watch, circa 1790. The back set with a very finely painted Geneva enamel of a young boy and girl, the boy carrying bunches of grapes and vine leaves to his left, an old cut diamond set border and royal blue and white enamel line outer border, the bezel set with diamonds and with enamel border to match the back, old cut diamond set pendant and bow, concealed hinge, the bezel released by depressing the pendant.
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White enamel dial with radial Arabic numerals, outer dot minute divisions, winding aperture above 6. Fine gold and silver fleur-de-lis hands set with diamonds. A matte gilt, full plate movement, cylindrical pillars, fusee and chain, verge escapement, three-arm steel balance, flat balance spring, single-footed cock finely engraved with foliage and pierced with a neoclassical pattern, diamond endstone, silver regulation dial. Movement signed.
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Diameter: 44 mm
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Signed: Clarke & Green  London
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This exquisitely decorated watch has survived in remarkably good condition. The watch is of very high quality with great attention paid to the finish throughout. The case is lavishly set with diamonds set in silver and the enamel is both charming and painted with great skill. This scene derives from English genre paintings by artists such as William Hamilton, Francis Wheatley and William Redmore Bigg who specialised in images of romanticised English rural life in the last quarter of the 18th Century.
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Their paintings were engraved and sold as prints which were published by Francesco Bartolozzi, Burke and others. These genre prints were enormously popular and were used as models for many Geneva enamelers, including Jean Louis Richter. The fine dial has a winding aperture lined in gold and hands made of gold with silver tops set with diamonds, high-grade English movement with diamond endstone.