Early French gilt verge Oignon pocket watch Circa 1690

Gilt single-handed Oignon watch by Dominique Beliard
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A very early and rare single-handed French Oignon watch with central winding and mock Pendulum, circa 1690.
Early French verge movement with extremely steep fusee, mock Pendulum, and signed plate. Enamel dial with raised cartouches, Roman radial hours, and exceptional gilt hand. Gilt case back with relief and lavishly decorated.
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Diameter: 60 mm
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Weight: 178 g
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Signed: Beliard a Paris
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Dominique Beliard, Parisian master watchmaker, France
Dominique Beliard was a master watchmaker in Paris and worked in the parish of Sainte Marie Madeleine en la cité in the Rue de la Juiverie. He married Marie Louise Massieux (Massieu) around 1720 and became the father of François Beliard and René Beliard. He is mentioned in the Paris archives on October 2, 1740, August 19, 1741, February 22, 1742, and May 13, 1753. Dominique Beliard died in 1752.
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Sainte Marie Madeleine en la cité
The church is called Marie-Madeleine, which can also be found under Sainte-Marie-Madeleine-en-la-Cité. It was originally a 9th-century synagogue that was 31 meters long and 8 meters wide. After the expulsion of the Jews from the Kingdom of France in 1182 and the confiscation of their property by Philippe Auguste in 1183, Maurice de Sully, Bishop of Paris, converted the synagogue into a church, which was established into a parish, the latter becoming on the Île de la Cité created between those of Saint-Martial and Saint-Pierre aux Bœufs as part of Maurice de Sully’s parish reorganization. The Madeleine-en-la-Cité church was the seat of the Grand Confrérie de Notre-Dame aux Lords, Priests, Bourgeois et Bourgeoises de Paris. “This brotherhood is like the mother of all other brotherhoods, because it is so old that we don’t know when it started”. It was also the most powerful of the brotherhoods: the bishop of Paris was its abbot, and the kings and queens of France were among them. It was sold in 1793 and demolished during the French Revolution.
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Mock Pendulum is a false pendulum bob attached to the balances of certain timepieces and visible through a slot in the dial or case.