French silver quarter repeating onion pocket watch Circa 1710

Silver open faced key winding verge watch
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A fine and substantial French silver open faced onion (oignon) pocket watch featuring a quarter repeating mechanism, made by Louis Mynuel in Paris, circa 1710. This watch has a mechanical key winding full plate movement with a verge escapement, chain fusee, spiral balance, advance/retard adjustment disc, and a quarter repeating mechanism that chimes on gongs activated by pressing the pendant. The backplate features a beautifully chased and pierced continental balance cock supported by ornately decorated pillars, signed Mynuel à Paris. The white enamel dial shows Roman numerals for the hours, an outer railway minute track, Arabic five minute numerals from 5 to 60, delicate openwork hands, and a winding aperture near 4 o’clock.
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The timepiece is housed in a heavy, hinged round silver open faced onion case. The reverse back cover and caseband are intricately openworked and chased, allowing the repeating chimes to resonate clearly. It is completed by a prominent winding stem and a sturdy round suspension bow.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Weight: 153.7 g
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Signed: Mynuel à Paris
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The term oignon refers to the distinctive deep bulbous case shape that dominated French and Swiss watchmaking during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Master watchmakers of the era, such as Mynuel in Paris, elevated these substantial timepieces by integrating advanced auditory complications, such as the quarter repeater. These striking mechanisms required sound to exit the heavy metal frames, so the case backs and sides were meticulously pierced and chased with foliage and scroll openwork, transforming a technical necessity into an artistic showcase. Timepieces signed by Mynuel from this golden age of French horology are highly sought after by connoisseurs for their imposing presence and complex movement architecture.
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Louis Mynuel (c. 1675–1742) was one of the most distinguished French master watchmakers of the late reign of Louis XIV and the Regency period. Born in Dieppe as the son of a goldsmith, Mynuel gained high recognition in 1705 when he was awarded the title Marchand Horloger Privilégié du Roi suivant la Cour, appointing him as a privileged court horologist. He established his workshop in the heart of Paris on the Rue de Harlay along the Île de la Cité, later operating from the renowned Quai des Orfèvres.
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Mynuel was celebrated for his collaborative work with the era’s grandest royal cabinetmakers and bronzanti, notably André-Charles Boulle and Charles Cressent, for whom he crafted complex clock movements housed in extraordinary tortoiseshell, brass, and gilt bronze cases. His exceptional timepieces were sought after by European royalty and the high aristocracy, supplying creations to the Elector of Cologne, King Stanislaus Leszczyński of Poland, and the royal courts of Parma and Sweden. Among his surviving masterpieces, one of his finest clock movements powers the famous Char d’Apollon clock displayed at the Palace of Fontainebleau. After his death in 1742, his widow maintained his workshop, continuing the production of luxury horology under the family name.