Swiss 18 Carat gold enamel Lépine with off centre dial Circa 1830

Lépine with original gold enamel chatelaine
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A flat 18 Carat gold enamel Lépine with off centre dial and original gold enamel chatelaine with original key, made by Jean-François Bautte in Genève, Switzerland, circa 1830. The 18 Carat gold, flat, open faced case is elaborately enamelled as is the wafer thin edge and the dust cover is signed and numbered.  The associated gold enamel snake shaped chatelaine weighs approximately 12 grams and is approximately 15 cm long. Its chain is also black and white enamelled, matching the watch, with an original pendant and the original key, The decentralized guilloché dial has fine Breguet steel hands and the movement has a cylinder escapement.
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Diameter: 39 mm
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Weight: 32 g
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Signed: Jn Fs Bautte, a Genève
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In 1791 watchmaker and goldsmith Jean-François Bautte signed his first watches. He created a manufacturing company in Geneva, grouping for the first time ever all the watchmaking facets of that time. This included the engineering of the watch all the way to the final hand assembly and hand polishing of each piece. In 1832, Jacques Bautte and Jean-Samuel Rossel succeeded him, becoming the head of the company. In 1852, the watchmaker Constant Girard founded Girard & Cie in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. He then married Marie Perregaux in 1854 and the Girard-Perregaux company was founded in 1856. In 1906, Constant Girard-Gallet, who took over control of the company from his father, acquired the Bautte firm and merged it with Girard-Perregaux & Cie.