Decorative French quarter repeating à toc watch Circa 1720

Gold verge repoussé watch by Jean Baptiste Dutertre
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A decorative French gold quarter repeating à toc verge pocket watch, circa 1720.
Repoussé case, florally engraved and chased bezel, the back cover with a chased décor of summer flowers, repetition through pendant and a large lateral hinge. Signed white enamel dial with radial Roman hours and Arabic five minute numerals, Louis XVI hands. Signed fire gilt full plate movement, key wind, chain and fusee, conical movement pillars, two hammers, verge escapement, three-arm steel balance, fine florally engraved and pierced balance bridge.
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Diameter: 45 mm
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Weight: 88 g
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Signed: Jean Baptiste Dutertre à Paris
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Jean Baptiste Dutertre was born on November 6, 1684, in Rennes, France. His father was clockmaker François Dutertre. He went to Paris around 1701 and apprenticed with Jean-Baptiste Le Noir. Dutertre worked in the Rue Harlay near the Quai des Orfèvres from 1712 on and soon gained a reputation as an excellent maker. Together with Pierre le Roy Dutertre refined the duplex escapement. He also invented the Dutertre escapement for pendulum clocks, a recoil escapement used for double pendulum clocks. Jean Baptiste Dutertre died on July 22, 1734, in Paris at the age of 49.
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Montre à toc. A ‘dumb’ repeater watch in which a hammer strikes the inside of the case to produce a muffled sound. Invented by Julian Le Roy in 1740.