French watch with inlaid polychrome enamel portrait Circa 1852

Gold watch with a painted portrait of Jerome Bonaparte (1784-1860)
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An important French presentation watch with an excellent enamel painted portrait of Jerome Bonaparte, circa 1852. This watch features an 18 carat gold à goutte Lépine case with a coined band. The back of the case has an eight cornered painting of absolute top quality, signed by H. Steiner Paris, while the case itself is signed by Perrelet Paris Horloger Mecanicien, with the numbers 1775 and 12/52.
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It has an exquisite bar movement with a special lever escapement and key winding. The enamel dial is perfectly preserved, with Roman radial hours, an outer minutes track, a subsidiary dial for the seconds, and fine Breguet steel hands. This watch is in excellent condition and looks almost like new.
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Diameter: 45 mm
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Weight: 68 g
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Signed: Perrelet Paris, H. Steiner Paris
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Probably offered around 1853 by Prince Jerome Bonaparte (1784-1860), president of the Senate, to Joachim Charles Napoleon Clary (1803-1856), son of Etienne François Clary (1757-1823).
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Joachim Charles Napoleon Clary, nephew of the Queens of Spain and Sweden, wives of King Joseph and Bernadotte, was called to the Senate on 31 December 1852, and sat, until his death, in the dynastic majority.
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Abraham-Louis Perrelet, born in 1729 in Switzerland, was a brilliant watchmaker and the inventor of the first automatic movement in 1777. He was consistently innovative in his approach to watchmaking. His grandson, Louis-Fréderic Perrelet, born in 1783, took over the factory at the beginning of the 19th century and, in keeping with his grandfather’s spirit, continued the family’s watchmaking innovations. As a testament to his European reputation and talent, Louis-Frédéric Perrelet was awarded numerous gold medals and was elevated to the rank of Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur in 1834.