Fine French gold verge watch with chatelaine Circa 1790

Gold, enamel, diamond and pearl-set pocket watch by Robert Robin
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A fine French gold, enamel, diamond and pearl-set pocket watch with chatelaine, circa 1790. Gilt full plate verge movement with pierced and engraved balance bridge. White enamel dial, Arabic numerals, outer minute divisions, gold serpentine and poker hands. The case back with translucent blue enamel over an engine-turned ground, central decoration with applied rose-cut diamonds highlighted with a floral border, both bezels set with pearls. Dial and movement signed. With a gold and enamel chatelaine and winding key. Comes with a period-fitted presentation case.
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Diameter: 52 mm
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Signed: Robin A Paris
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Robert Robin  (1741-1799) was a talented and inventive clock and watchmaker who counted among his clientele the French Royal Family. He became Marchand-Horloger Privilégié du Roi on 22 October 1763 and resigned on 13 September 1765 in favour of Jean-Pierre Courtois. In 1778 the Académie des Sciences approved two of his inventions, one being an astronomical clock representing a meridian drawn on a pyramid, which the Menus Plaisirs acquired that year for Louis XIV, for 30,000 livres. During the same period, he perfected his famous mantel clocks with astronomical indications and compensated pendulums, one of the first owners being the Marquis de Courtanvaux. Robin applied these principles to regulators, the Duc d’Aumont possessed an early model of this kind. He was equally interested in watches, using a special escapement that bears his name from 1786 onwards and in monumental clocks, supplying the Grand Commun at Versailles (1782), the Menus Plaisirs and the Petit Trianon (1785). Many members of Parisian high society were clients of Robin, including the maréchaux Ducs of Duras and Richelieu and the marquis de Sérent, tutor to the dukes of Angoulême and Berry. In 1794, Robin was appointed Horloger de la République. After the French Revolution, he was given the task of making an inventory of the Royal clocks including the 23 that belonged to Marie Antoinette.