Swiss gold and pearl centre seconds virgule watch Circa 1790

Gold, enamel and pearl-set virgule watch attributed to Jaquet Droz
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A large and very fine Swiss 18K gold, enamel and pearl-set open faced centre seconds virgule pocket watch, Royal Blue, made for the Chinese market, circa 1790.
The case back with dark blue translucent enamel, set with two rows of Orient pearls, case maker’s mark CD. Engraved cuvette with very rare additional function and locking device for the shaft. White enamel dial with Roman hours, outer minute divisions and Arabic quarter hours, original gold hands. Movement with Lépine calibre, virgule escapement, stoppable centre seconds.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Weight: 90 g
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Signed: No name
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Attributed to the famous manufacturer Jaquet-Droz in many details. Unfortunately, many watches are not signed. In 2006, a comparable Jaquet-Droz watch was sold in the Geneva auction Important Collectors Watches as lot 142, very similar in terms of colour and design, also with two rowed Orient pearls, almost identical design of pendant and bow and above all an identical dial and hands. The watch was sold for 32,200 Swiss francs.
Another, nearly identical piece but in a simpler version without pearls, but again identical in the dial and hands, was sold in a Sotheby’s auction in 2011.
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Pierre Jaquet-Droz was one of the most important Swiss watch and automaton makers, who produced bracket clocks and splendour pendulum clocks. He specialized in automatons of all kinds (i.a. songbirds, tobacco boxes with songbirds) and luxury pocket watches.