Swiss gold verge with concealed erotic automaton Circa 1790

Multicoloured gold full glazed pocket watch
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A rare Swiss, multicoloured 18 carat gold pocket watch with concealed erotic automaton scene, circa 1790. A polished case with a reeded band, glazed front and back. Automaton on the back finely painted with a Swiss landscape, varicoloured chased gold decoration, on the right shepherd with an automaton sheep and cow. On the left, a concealed erotic scene behind the water mill and the automata water wheel. White enamel dial with radial Arabic numerals, outer minute track and blue steel hands. Frosted gilt movement, full plate, inverted train, fusee and chain, verge escapement with micrometric potence adjustment, brass three arm balance mounted between the front plate and the dial, flat blued steel balance spring, regulation lever in the dial plate, the automata train activated by a lever under the dial at 6 o’clock.
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Diameter: 59 mm
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Signed: Henry Capt  Genève
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Henry-Daniel Capt Born in Chenit in 1773, he married Henriette Piguet. He specialised in the production of complicated watches, musical watches and automaton watches. Among the first in Geneva to use the musical mechanism with pinned cylinder and tuned teeth comb, he was famous for his snuffboxes with music and automaton scenes. From Ventôse 16, An X (March 7, 1802), to 1811, he formed a partnership with Daniel Isaac Piguet, who was from the same village as he. Their signature was Piguet & Capt. In 1811, when Piguet broke off to join Meylan in a new partnership, Henry-Daniel Capt continued to work on his own until, in 1830, he went into partnership with Aubert and son, Place Bel-Air. Their signature was Aubert & Capt.
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They were among the first Genevan makers to produce watches with a chronograph. In 1844, the workshop was at 108, rue Neuve in Geneva. It was then managed by Capt’s son, Henry Capt Jr. After a short time, it moved to 85, rue de la Fusterie, and in 1851, to 177, rue du Rhône. In 1880, the firm was bought by Gallopin, and its name became H. Capt Horloger, Maison Gallopin Successeurs, a trademark registered on November 1, 1880, under the No. 44. This signature was only used for watches retailed in their store, the watches supplied to other retailers were merely signed Henry Capt. Henri Capt, along with Isaac Piguet and Philippe Meylan, was the foremost maker of small musical automata in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Most of his work is not signed, although he sometimes scratched his name on his movements.