Swiss gold and green enamel Boule de Genève watch Circa 1890

Unsigned gold and enamel ball-form pendant watch
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A very fine gold and enamel Swiss, Boule de Genève, pendant watch with original suspension, circa 1890. This watch features a green engine-turned enamel case made of 18K gold and is equipped with a cylinder movement. The enamel dial displays Arabic numerals for hours, with a red 12, and has outer minute divisions. The steel hands complete the design of the watch.
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Diameter: 21 mm
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Weight: 29 g
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Signed: No name
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This watch is in great, unaltered condition, but there is some wear on the enamel at the suspension loops. The movement has started ticking, but it requires a service or cleaning
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A Boule de Genève (Geneva ball) is a pendant watch shaped like a small ball or sphere originating from Geneva, Switzerland. The dial is usually at the bottom of the sphere facing the floor, at the opposite side of the jump ring on the upper part of the sphere. Although there are examples with a front view face. Usually, they were Arabic numeral dials, sometimes Roman, and from the 1950s, different types of hour markers were also used. This objet de vertu frequently came with a matching brooch, chain or chatelaine. The term Boule de Genève is generic; it doesn’t mean that a given watch was necessarily made in the city or Canton of Geneva. Geneva balls were crafted in different sizes, styles, materials and decorative techniques, such as gold, silver, other metals, guilloché enamel, enamel, cloisonné, adorned with diamonds, pearls, etc. They were intended as an accessory mainly for women.
The first Boules de Genève dates from the 1860s and were marketed by firms such as Patek Philippe from 1866. They featured the winding mechanism invented by Marius Lecoultre (1847-1915) of Geneva and patented in Switzerland in 1889 (the Swiss patent office was not created until 1888). Winding is done by rotating the hemisphere containing the dial, and time-setting is done by pressing the protruding, cylindrical-shaped button at one side of the orb while turning the hemisphere clockwise or counterclockwise. These watches have no key or crown. Lecoultre’s winding system was also used in some ring watches and wristwatches.
In the 1878 Pairs Exposition Universelle, Patek Philippe devoted a showcase to these ball-form timepieces. Years later, they sold pieces to royalty, such as Sultan Hussein Kamel of Egypt in 1887 and Empress Teresa of Brazil in 1888.