Swiss gold pearl and diamond-set repeating watch Circa 1835

Gold grande and petite sonnerie striking clock watch
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A very fine and very rare Swiss 18 carat gold, enamel, pearl and diamond-set hunting cased two train grande and petite sonnerie quarter repeating and striking pocket watch made for the Italian market, circa 1835. La Serenissima by Louis Audemars. Engine-turned band, hinged and sprung front cover decorated with a finely painted enamel scene of the church of Santa Maria della Salute with boats on the water in the foreground, a blue, red and white champlevé enamel border with pearl and rose-cut diamond-set stylized leaves and flowers, the back cover finely painted with a view of a Venetian lagoon with ships and gondolas on the water, a champlevé enamel, pearl and diamond-set border to match the front.

Hinged gold engine-turned and florally engraved cuvette. White enamel dial with radial Roman hours, outer minute track and blued steel spade hands. Frosted gilt movement, eight jewels, standing barrels for the going and striking trains, lateral lever escapement, cut bimetallic compensation balance with gold temperature and meantime adjustment screws, blued steel flat balance spring, index regulator, striking on four gongs on the hours and quarter-hours, strike/silent and grande & petite sonnerie selection levers under the back cover at the edge of the cuvette, pump wind quarter repeating activated by a pull and twist piston in the pendant. Cuvette signed.
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Diameter: 58 mm
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Signed: Louis Audemars Genève
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Between 1811 and 1848 it was not unusual for the movements of Louis Audemars watches to be unsigned. Originally, this watch was fitted with a duplex escapement which has been upgraded to a lateral lever of the type in use after 1860, with a typical Audemars balance with a cut away slot for the meantime adjustment screw.