French miniature gold and enamel watch with chain Circa 1855

Gold and enamel pendant watch by Athanase-Elysée Bourdin
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A French miniature gold and enamel open faced lady’s cylinder watch with chain, circa 1855. The watch features an unsigned gilded bar movement with a cylinder escapement and a plain flat three arm balance. It has a white enamel dial with Roman numerals and moon hands. The gold case has a back with blue guilloché enamel, centrally set with an applied diamond set monogram and coronet, a milled band, and a polished gold cuvette that is signed Bourdin, Horloger du Roi, Rue de la Paix, 24, à Paris. The inside cuvette is additionally numbered and is suspended from a coordinating short gold chain with decorative connecting links enhanced with blue enamel, along with a winding key decorated en suite.
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Diameter: 21 mm
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Length of chain (excl. key & watch): 100 mm
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Signed: Bourdin, Horloger du Roi, Rue de la Paix, 24, à Paris
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Movement is not running; the balance staff appears to be broken. The watch also seems to be fully wound. The hands are setting. Some tarnishing, oxidation, and scratches are visible. The dial is chipped at the edge near 2 o’clock, with some scratches near 12. The case back panel is loose and will require reaffixing to its bezel; currently, the back bezel does not secure itself to the main watch body, and the catch will need tightening and adjustment. The enamel is acceptable, with a few light scratches. The diamond set monogram is dirty, yet all diamonds appear present; the monogram seems to be RL. The glass is loose. The cuvette bears a French gold mark. The chain has chips and losses to the enamel of the connecting links, with further significant chips and losses to the blue enamel decoration of the key. The key fits the winding and setting squares of the watch.
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Athanase-Elysée Bourdin was an active French watchmaker from 1840 until around 1865 at 24 and 28 Rue de la Paix in Paris. Born on January 28, 1811, in Crécy-sur-Serre, Aisne, he was the son of Marie Agapit Bourdin (circa 1775-1823) and Marie Claude Braconnier (†1814). Although his father was a court clerk for peace justice rather than a watchmaker, Athanase-Elysée and his brother Philippe Marie Agapit Bourdin were trained as watchmakers. He married Marie Agathe Céleste Poynot (1811-1876) on April 28, 1834, in Deux-Sèvres – Thouars, Poitou-Charentes. From this marriage, three children were born: Élysée Célestin Bourdin (1832-1833), Elisée Bourdin (1841-1893), and Marie Céleste Bourdin (1843-1916). Elisée became a lawyer and an amateur painter.
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Bourdin invented a new compensation pendulum, which Achille Hubert Benoit presented in May 1850 at the Société D’Encouragement Pour L’Industrie Nationale. He was appointed as the king’s watchmaker and received medals at various exhibitions in Paris. In 1844, he was awarded a Médaille de Bronze, followed by a Médaille d’Argent (Silver) in 1855, and again a Médaille de Bronze in 1867. The well known engraver Charles Demengeot frequently undertook the engraving of his travel watches.
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Athanase-Elysée Bourdin died on March 22, 1894, in Orléans, Loiret, at 83.