French gold and enamel repeating verge pocket watch Circa 1755

Gold and enamel quarter repeater by Pierre Michaud
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French gold and enamel quarter repeating rococo verge pocket watch, circa 1755.
This timepiece features a verge movement, and enamel dial with Arabic radial hours and gold hands, capable of repeating the hours and quarter hours on a bell. The gold case is adorned with a stunning polychrome enamel scene, which is a miniature replica of a genre painting by Jean-Baptiste Greuze titled The Father Reading the Bible to His Children. This painting was exhibited to great acclaim in the 1755 Paris Salon and has been expertly recreated on this watchcase. The movement is signed Pre Michaud / A PARIS.
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Diameter: 48 mm
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Signed: Pre Michaud à Paris
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Pierre Michaud, originally from Orléans, became a master in Geneva in 1771. As this watch would indicate, he seems to have had an earlier career in Paris, but there are no traces of him in the records of the time. He is likely to have been a Protestant, as the choice of the scene on the enamelled case would suggest, and his religion would have prevented his becoming a master watchmaker in Paris.