French charming gold and enamel verge pocket watch Circa 1770

Gold and enamel open faced pocket watch by Pierre Le Roy
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French charming 18 Carat gold and enamel open faced verge pocket watch, circa 1770.
On the case back an en grisaille scene against a crimson coloured camaïeu ground depicting four winged putti playing with a billy goat, the engraved gold frame is ornamented with multi coloured gold and polychrome opaque basse taille enamel petals and leaves. White enamel dial with Roman hours, Arabic five minute numerals and decorative gold hands. Signed full plate movement, chain and fusee, three arm steel balance.
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Diameter: 42 mm
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Weight: 53 g
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Signed: Pierre Le Roy à Paris
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Pierre Le Roy, a French clockmaker, was born in 1717 in Paris and died in 1785. He was the inventor of the detent escapement, the temperature-compensated balance and the isochronous balance spring. His developments are considered the foundation of the modern precision clock. Le Roy was born as the eldest son of Julien Le Roy, a clockmaker to Louis XV who had worked with Henry Sully, in which place Pierre Le Roy succeeded his father.
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A grisaille (en grisaille), or grey painting, is a painting in which one does not apply natural colours but restricts oneself to depicting things in all possible shades of the same colour, usually grey or brown.
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Camaïeu is a technique that employs two or three tints of a single colour, other than grey, to create a monochromatic image without regard to local or realistic colour.
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Basse taille is an enamelling technique in which the artist creates a low relief pattern in metal, usually silver or gold, by engraving or chasing. The entire pattern is created in such a way that its highest point is lower than the surrounding metal. A translucent is then applied to the metal, allowing light to reflect from the relief and creating an artistic effect. It was used in the late Middle Ages, and then again in the 17th century.