Swiss gold and enamel single handed pocket watch Circa 1685

Gold and enamel watch by Barthelemy Duhamel
–
Swiss 21 carat gold pocket watch featuring a balance spring, adorned with enamel in the style of Huaud, circa 1685. Gilded full plate movement featuring a verge escapement and a three wheel train. It includes a flat three arm balance with a short spiral spring and a decoratively pierced and engraved silver balance bridge. The piece has a rack and pinion regulator with a silver indication disc, a blued steel wheel, and a click setup. It boasts decoratively engraved and pierced Egyptian pillars, fusee and chain, and is signed by Barthelemy Duhamel. The white enamel dial showcases large radial Roman numerals, half hour markers, and a turned gilded hand. At its centre, a finely polychrome enamel painting depicts Venus trying to entice Adonis, who appears unmoved and eager for the hunt, with a gilt unicorn hand featuring a tail.
–
The gold case, restored with polychrome enamel, displays a scene on the back of Venus and Adonis with Cupid and a dog at their feet. The band is adorned with polychrome enamel painted vignettes of pastoral and classical landscapes, separated by white and mauve stylised flora. Inside the case back is a polychrome enamel painted landscape scene with buildings and a gentleman in the foreground, complete with a later gilt metal pendant.
–
Diameter: 39 mm
–
Signed: Barthelemy Duhamel Geneva
–
The movement is operational. The dial has a few hairline cracks. The case features restored enamel throughout, with a soft enamel or lacquer finish on the surface. There are noticeable cracks and repairs around the pendant and catch. The pendant is made of gilt metal and is a later addition.
–
Barthelemy Duhamel (1662-1705) was a son of Pierre, apprenticed to Abraham Bobinet in 1675 and Pierre Urbain Dufour in 1679. He worked with Philippe Decombe in 1688. 
–
Pierre Huaud I (Le Pere), Geneva, 1612-1680. Born in Chatellerault, France, son of French goldsmith Jean Huaud, a refugee in Geneva in 1630 at the age of 18, indicating that he may well have begun his training under his father or another French goldsmith. Some sources suggest that this may have been in Blois and that his subsequent full apprenticeship under Legère was required in order to be received as Master in Geneva. Apprenticed to Laurent Legère in the same year, a companion in 1634 and Master in 1636. Married in 1643 to Françoise Mussard and amongst their children, three sons who became enamellers – Pierre II (1647-1698), Jean-Pierre (1655-1725) and Ami (1657-1724). In 1671, Pierre I and his three sons were made ‘bourgeois’ of the city of Geneva.
–
Venus and Adonis. According to the legend, Adonis was born from the incestuous union of Myrrha and her father Cinyras, King of Paphos in Cyprus. The gods transformed Myrrha into a myrrh tree and in due course, Adonis was born when the tree’s trunk was split open by a wild boar. Venus was struck by the beauty of the child Adonis and put him in the care of Persephone, the queen of the underworld. But Persephone loved the youth and refused to give him back to Venus. Jupiter was called on to pass judgment and ruled that Adonis was to remain one third of the year with each goddess, in turn, spending the rest of the time as he pleased. Adonis died as he was born, being attacked by a wild boar while hunting. Venus, overcome with despair, fashioned a flower from the blood of his wounds – the red anemone, which blooms briefly each year and then dies. Similar scenes to those on the band are illustrated in Emailmalerei auf Genfer Taschenuhren vom 17. bis zum Beginnenden 19. Jahrhundert, by Hans Boech, 1982.