Swiss gilt silver watch made for the Chinese market Circa 1880

Gilt enamelled watch with center seconds
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A fine Swiss gilded silver, enamel and split pearl set pocket watch made for the Chinese market by Bovet in Fleurier, circa 1880. A key winding open faced with center seconds. Polychrome painting on enamel on silver, by an unidentified workshop, probably Geneva, showing a young couple making an offering to an altar of Love, in neoclassical-style, on a royal blue background; fluted case band; bezel set with half pearls and a glazed cuvette. White enamel dial with Roman hours, outer minute divisions, and blued steel hands. A gilded brass movement, engraved Chinese style, going barrel, lateral lever escapement, polished steel monometallic balance with blued steel wings balance and blued steel flat hairspring, polished steel index regulator.
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Diameter: 45 mm
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Signed: Bovet  Fleurier
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The painted decoration on enamel of this watch is in the style of Genevan watches from the very end of the 18th century; it is a typical example of the revival that was very much in vogue in the second half of the 19th century. The present example reminds us of the enamels of Jean-Louis Richter (1766-1841), one of the best enamel painters in Geneva.