Extremely slim Swiss lady’s Bagnolet pocket watch Circa 1850

Gold and enamel cylinder watch by Ami Sandoz & Sons
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A slim Swiss gold and enamel open faced Lady’s Bagnolet pocket watch, circa 1850. This timepiece features a gilded full plate movement with engraved scrolls and foliage, cylinder escapement, and Bagnolet calibre and is signed by Ami Sandoz et Fils. It has a gilt dial with Roman numerals, an external railway minute track, a centre engraved with flowers, and Breguet hands. The gold case includes a polychrome enamel panel depicting a shepherdess and a sheep, with a border featuring blue and white enamel strapwork decoration. The case bears the maker’s mark FM.
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Diameter: 33.5 mm
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Thickness: 3 mm
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Signed: Ami Sandoz et Fils
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The movement is not operational. The dial shows significant tarnishing around the edges and has light scratches. The case has multiple scratches on the enamel scene, along with chips and additional scratches on the enamel decoration. The glass is missing.
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Ami Sandoz & Sons Swiss Watchmaking
Ami Sandoz & Sons, also known as Ami Sandoz & Fils or Ami Sandoz & Son, was a prominent watchmaking company active in Geneva and La Chaux-de-Fonds from approximately 1820 to 1900. The company achieved recognition by winning a silver medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878. A pocket chronometer from the company is part of the British Museum’s collection. Ami Sandoz & Fils utilised a winding mechanism invented by Gustave Sandoz. The company maintained business relations with a watch shop operated by Charles Gottlob Jonathan Seytz until his death on January 17, 1848, in Hyeres, France. In 1884, the company established a branch at Markgrafenstrasse 76 in Berlin. However, as early as 1861, a watch shop named Ami Sandoz & Sons was already listed at Jerusalemmer Strasse 21 in the “Allgemeiner Wohnungs-Anzeiger nebst Adreß- und Geschäftshandbuch für Berlin, dessen Umgebungen und Charlottenburg.” The operations in La Chaux-de-Fonds continued under the name Ducommun-Sandoz & Cie.