Swiss watch with enamel decorated coat of arms Circa 1890

Gold hunting cased with diamond-set
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A very fine and rare Swiss 18K gold and enamel, diamond set, minute-repeating, hunting cased, keyless Royal presentation pocket watch, circa 1890. King Umberto I of Italy Presentation Watch Made for Umberto I, King of Italy, retailed by C. Morel Jeune, 65, Rue de Rome, à Marseille. Polished, the hinged and sprung front cover with the champlevé enameled diamond-set coat of arms of Umberto I, King of Italy, faceted band. Hinged gold cuvette.

White enamel dial with radial Arabic numerals, outer minute track, subsidiary seconds. Blued steel spade hands. Gilt brass movement, 25 jewels, counterpoised straight line lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance, blued steel Breguet balance spring, index regulator, repeating on gongs activated by a slide in the band. Movement and case signed, cuvette signed by the retailer.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Signed: Louis Audemars  Brassus & Geneve
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Umberto I (1844-1900) was born on March 14, 1844, in Turin (Piedmont), Kingdom of Sardinia, Duke of Savoy and King of Italy. His marriage to his cousin Margherita Teresa Giovanna, Princess of Savoy, on April 22, 1868, and the birth of their son, the future Vittorio Emanuele III, on November 11, 1869, also gained him public sympathy in spite of prevailing antimonarchist sentiment. Umberto I led his country out of its isolation and into the Triple Alliance with Austria and Germany. He supported nationalistic and imperialistic policies that led to disaster for Italy and helped create the atmosphere in which he was assassinated in Monza by an anarchist on July 29, 1900.