Swiss gold and enamel Boule de Genève pendant watch Circa 1900

Gold pendant watch with brooch fitting
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An unique Swiss, 18 carat yellow gold, guilloché enamel and pearl set lady’s Boule de Genève pendant watch with brooch fitting, circa 1900. The bezel is overlaid with pink guilloché enamel and set with pearls, the band set with half pearls. The back cover has a glazed aperture to view the balance wheel. Detachable gold and enamel brooch fitting en suite and set with half pearls. White enamel dial with blue Roman numerals and red 12, outer gilt dot minute markers. Gold spade hands. Frosted gilt, full plate movement, lateral lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel flat balance spring, index regulator, wound and set by rotating the bezel.
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Diameter: 22 mm
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Signed: No Name
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A Boule de Genève (Geneva ball) is a type of pendant watch in the shape of a small ball or sphere originating from Geneva, Switzerland. The dial is usually at the bottom of the sphere, facing the floor, at the opposite side of the jump ring on the upper part of the sphere. Although there are examples (like this watch) with a front view face. Usually, they were Arabic numeral dials, sometimes Roman, and from the 1950s, different types of hour markers were also used. This ‘objet de vertu’ frequently came with a matching brooch, chain or chatelaine.
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The term Boule de Genève is generic, it doesn’t mean that a given watch was necessarily made in the city or the Canton of Geneva. Geneva balls were crafted in different sizes, styles, materials and decorative techniques, such as gold, silver, other metals, guilloché enamel, enamel, cloisonné, adorned with diamonds, pearls, etc. They were intended as an accessory mainly for women.