Swiss 18 carat gold and enamel heart form watch Circa 1790

Enamelled gold heart shaped pocket watch
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An extremely rare, large, gold and enamel form watch with a “Declaration of love with this heart” and a quarter repeater, made by Amalric in Genève, Switzerland, circa 1790. This watch features a heart shaped case, crafted in 18 carat gold and silver. The obverse bears a declaration of love in Spanish in gold lettering: “This heart I give you as proof of my love”. Both sides of the case are richly decorated with gemstones and translucent enamel and the reverse features an exceptionally fine miniature painting framed by delicate gold inlays forming floral tendrils. A push button on the rim releases the gold spring loaded cover and the case is further fitted with a bell. The white enamel dial features an outer minute and hour track with Arabic 15 minute and hour numerals, a window with a view on the jewel set balance and steel hands. The rare lèpine movement is equipped with a verge escapement and a quarter repeater.
The dial and the movement are signed.
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Dimensions: 85 x 58 mm
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Weight: 90 g
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Signed: Amalric Frères
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Amalric
The family’s horological footprint began with the brothers’ father, Abraham Amalric, a master watchmaker and jeweller who was active from 1760 onward.

To expand his commercial footprint, Abraham entered into a structured cooperative partnership with the brothers Pierre-Isaac and Jacob Wiss between 1775 and 1784. Watches produced during this decade bore the workshop mark “Frères Wiss & Amalric”. This setup allowed them to pool resources for high carat gold procurement and expand distribution outside Switzerland.

Upon the dissolution of the partnership with the Wiss brothers in 1784, Abraham integrated his emerging sons, Jean-Louis and David, directly into the family business. They rebranded the entity to “Amalric Père & Fils” (Amalric Father & Sons). Pocket watches from this specific timeframe, between 1784 and 1795, are typically engraved with this signature on the movement backplate.