Rare English gold and enamel verge pocket watch Circa 1680

Gold and enamel open faced pocket watch
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A fine and rare English gold and enamel open faced verge pocket watch, circa 1680. Gilt full plate movement, pierced and engraved balance cock. White enamel dial with Roman hours, the centre with a polychrome enamel scene depicting a couple in colourful robes. The case is entirely decorated with enamel paintings by Les Frères Huaud, the scene on the back depicting Mercury and Minerva, the band with landscape vignettes separated by acanthus scrolls, the interior with a classical landscape, signed Fratres Huauts pinxerunt within the band.
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Diameter: 39 mm
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Signed: Fromanteel
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The members of the Fromanteel family were watch and clockmakers of repute. Some of their exceptional work can be found in the London City Museum, London Science Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, among others.
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Les Frères Huaut (or Huaud). The cases painted on enamel by ‘Les deux Frères Huaut’ were among the finest examples of their kind from the Geneva School and were not only highly valued when originally made, but remained as art treasures in the centuries that followed. Pierre I was the founder of the Huaud dynasty. He was born in 1612 in Geneva as the son of a French goldsmith Jean Huaud. He settled in Geneva in 1630 and three of his 11 children became famous enamellists like their father: Pierre II (1647-1698), Jean-Pierre (1655-1723) and Ami (1657-1724). The brothers were most likely trained by their father and worked with him. Pierre II started his own business around 1680. Jean-Pierre and Ami became partners in 1682 and were appointed painters to the Prussian court in 1686 when they moved to Berlin and started working for Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg (1620-1688). Among their most well-known works are Diana and Actaeon, The Judgement of Paris, The Holy Family, St. John the Baptist, The Nativity and The Adoration of the Shepherds.