Swiss four coloured gold repeating verge watch Circa 1770

Open faced pocket watch by Dufalga
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A Swiss splendid four coloured 20 Carat gold verge pocket watch repeater with jewels, circa 1770.
Chased and engraved case with jewels (some replaced) and casemaker’s punch HF.; signed verge movement with repeating hours and quarters à toc; white enamel dial with Roman hours, Arabic minutes and very beautiful original silver hands, also set with jewels.
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Diameter: 44 mm
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Weight: 77 g
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Signed: Dufalga Geneve
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There are a lot of discrepancies about the identity of Dufalgas in the relevant watchmaker directories. Most probably, this watch is a work of Philippe Cafarello Dufalga (born 1712 France – died 1794 Geneva), son of Francois Dufalga, Haut-Languedoc, France. Together with his father Philippe Cafarello he came to Geneva, where he was naturalized in 1745. He was known for making luxurious watches. Probably he worked in Geneva and in Paris, which would explain the two signatures ‘Dufalga à Paris’ and ‘Dufalga à Genève’. Unfortunately, the identity of the case maker ‘HF’ remains unknown. Only a few of these luxurious verge watches are known today, mostly in well known collections and museums. A similar watch can be found in the Louvre Museum.