Small French 18 carat open faced lady’s pocket watch Circa 1880

Gold lever by Charles Oudin
–
A very small French 18 carat gold open faced pocket watch, circa 1880. A solid, polished case with an engine turned back and a reeded band. Gold engine turned dial with radial Roman hour numerals, outer minute divisions and blued steel moon hands (the hour hand is broken). Gilt brass full plate movement, a lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance and blued steel flat balance spring. Signed and numbered on the movement.
–
Diameter: 27 mm
–
Signed: Charles Oudin  Paris
–
Charles Oudin, a talented and innovative watch and clockmaker, was a student of Abraham-Louis Breguet. Oudin excelled in creating watches with the Equation of Time feature and developed a version of this complication that could be integrated into Breguet’s souscription watches. By 1805, he had established his workshop at the Palais Royal, Galerie de Pierre. In 1819, one of Oudin’s Equation of Time watches was showcased at the Paris Exhibition.