French quarter repeating à toc single-cased verge watch Circa 1760

Gold and polychrome enamel painted watch by Tavernier 
–
A French gold and polychrome enamel painted single-cased quarter repeating à toc verge watch, circa 1760. The watch features a gilded full plate movement with verge escapement, a plain flat steel three-arm balance, a decoratively pierced balance bridge engraved with scrolling foliage, a silver regulation plate, two polished hammers for quarter repeating à toc, turned pillars, fusee and chain, and is signed Tavernier à Paris. The dial is white enamel with Roman numerals, an outer Arabic minute ring, gilt filigree hands, and an aperture for winding.
–
The case is gold, with the back featuring a restored polychrome enamel painting of a still life with daffodils, roses, grapes, peaches, and a parrot. The bezels are adorned with chased and engraved scrollwork interlaced with translucent green enamel, and the front bezel is decorated with polychrome enamel-painted flowers. It also has a paste-set thumbpiece and pendant but lacks a pulsing piece to the bezel.
–
Diameter: 46 mm
–
Signed: Tavernier à Paris
–
The movement is operational, but the repeating function is not working. The strike train engages when the pendant is pushed, but the hammers do not. The pulse piece is also missing from the bezel. The dial has hairline cracks between 55 and 5. The case back has been restored with soft enamel on the upper half, and there are repairs and some losses to the green enamel on the bezels. Additionally, the case back has been repaired.
–
Jean-Pierre Tavernier, a Parisian watchmaker from France, was born in 1714. He worked in Paris at the rue de Bussy parish of Saint-Sulpice and became a master in 1746. In 1754, he published tables with the equation of time (“Table de différence du temps vrai au temps moyen”). Tavernier was known for his expertise in crafting small portable clocks, including decorative clocks in rings and bracelets. It is believed that he presented a marine clock to the Académie des Sciences around 1766, around the same time as Pierre Le Roy and Jean Romilly. In 1795, Jean-Pierre Tavernier passed away. His sons, Louis, Etienne, and Pierre Benjamin, also pursued careers as watchmakers and casemakers in Paris.