French open faced platinum Art Nouveau pocket watch Circa 1900

Platinum pocket watch by Boucheron
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A French platinum open faced Art Nouveau pocket watch, circa 1900. This watch features a handwound mechanical lever movement. It has a silvered dial, signed Boucheron, with Arabic numerals, a blued steel track, and apple shaped hands. The plain platinum case features a numbered, clipped back design.
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Diameter: 46 mm.
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Weight: 55.9 g
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Signed: BOUCHERON
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Frédéric Boucheron, originally known as Prudent Frédéric Boucheron, was born on 17 December 1830 in Paris. He was the son of the silk merchant Louis Boucheron (ca. 1787-1862) and Marie Louise Aurore Voizot (1797-1839). In 1845, at the age of 14, he began an apprenticeship with a distant cousin of his father, Jules Chaise (1808-1870), a jewellery manufacturer. Boucheron spent nine years working as a jeweller in various workshops before joining the Tixier-Deschamps jewellery store in the Palais-Royal as an employee. He later decided to establish his own business. In 1858, he opened a jewellery store in the Galerie de Valois, near the Palais Royal, which was later known as Boucheron Paris. Frédéric Boucheron’s sister, Louise Ernestine Boucheron (1817-1890), married Jean-Michel Radius (1811-1848). They were the parents of Louis Georges Radius (1841-1931), who eventually joined the firm. Frédéric married Jeanne Gabrielle Louise Bonin (1846-1932) on 1 July 1873 in Paris. From this marriage, Louis Frédéric André Boucheron (1874-1959) was born, who took over the business. His two sons, Frédéric André Louis Boucheron (1907-1973) and Gérard Louis Boucheron (1910-1997), subsequently took over the company. Shortly after Gérard Louis’s death, Alain Boucheron (born 1948) sold the firm. Frédéric Boucheron was named a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur in 1877, an Officer in 1889, and a Commandeur in 1900. Frédéric Boucheron died on August 20, 1902, in Paris, aged 71, and was buried in the Montmartre Cemetery.