French gilt brass single handed oignon watch Circa 1700

Gilt brass watch with Madonna and child enamel scene
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A very fine and very rare French, gilt brass, single handed oignon watch, wound through the centre, with Geneva school painted on enamel balance cock, circa 1700. The back and bezel engraved with inhabited foliage hinged back opening to reveal a fixed cuvette with a glazed aperture for viewing the enamelled cock. Gilt brass dial with white enamel cartouches in relief with blue radial Roman numerals, inner quarter-hour chapter, the centre chased with exotic birds and foliage. Blued steel hand. Hinged, frosted gilt full plate movement with divided Egyptian pillars, fusee and chain with nicely engraved guard plate, verge escapement with steel balance and short balance spring, continental type double-footed cock with finely painted on enamel scene depicting the Madonna and Child, Tompion type regulator. Movement signed.
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Diameter: 58 mm
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Signed: Turet  Paris
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Isaac Thuret II (c. 1630 -1706) Was considered to be the greatest clockmaker of his time. The great Leibniz called him “Thuret the famous clock-maker”, Germain Brice praised the Academie des Sciences clockmaker with a profound knowledge of mathematics, who has made a great contribution to the improvement of clocks and the astronomer Richer maintained that Thuret by his exactitude and the delicacy of his work has now surpassed all those involved in making watches and pendulum clocks. Thuret’s activity was intense: the King, the Royal Family, the ministers, the great financiers and members of the nobility were all his clients.