Swiss 18K gold pocket watch with digital hour display Circa 1830

Gold open faced key winding cylinder watch
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A fine and rare Swiss 18 carat pink gold open faced pocket watch with an early digital jumping hour display, retailed or inspired by Lépine, circa 1830. It features a high grade mechanical key winding gold plated cylinder movement with a three arm balance wheel under a solid gold plated inner protective cuvette signed L’Epine. The solid silver engine turned dial has a central jumping digital hour aperture at 12 o’clock, a traditional outer minute track with Arabic fifteen minute numerals, swept by a fine blued steel minute hand, and an integrated subsidiary seconds dial at 6 o’clock.
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The timepiece is housed in a smooth, round, two body, 18 carat solid pink gold open faced case with a finely ribbed, engine turned caseband edge, a smooth, polished reverse back cover, a single winding aperture on the inner cuvette, and a later added suspension bow.
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Diameter: 50 mm
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Signed: L’Epine 
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In the early 19th century, the production of digital or jumping hour window displays (heures sautantes) was an avant garde horological novelty. Pioneered on the continent by elite makers like Jean-Antoine Lépine and Abraham-Louis Breguet, these eccentric dial layouts replaced the traditional hour hand with an internal rotating disk that snapped into place under a dedicated aperture at the top of the dial. This model elegantly combines that complex mechanism with a beautifully textured engine turned silver dial, showcasing the high fashion design tropes sought by wealthy European collectors during the late Georgian and Restoration eras.