Swiss gold, bloodstone and enamel egg form verge Circa 1790

Gold Rococo style pendant watch
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A rare French 18 carat gold, enamel and bloodstone rococo style egg form pendant watch made by Jean-Antoine Lépine in Paris, circa 1790. The egg shaped case features pierced gold Rococo flower and scrollwork over a bloodstone base, a hinged lid with the inscription Dieu vous bénit (God bless you) in white enamel and a ring suspension loop. White enamel dial with Arabic hour numerals, an outer minute track and blued steel Breguet hands. Frosted gilt full plate movement with fusee and chain, a verge escapement, three arm brass balance and flat balance spring. Dial and movement signed.
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Dimensions: 58 x 36 mm
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Signed: Lépine à Paris
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Bloodstone is a beautiful, mostly dark green stone with red or brown spots that form as a result of impurities in the iron oxide. These spots look like blood splatters, giving the stone its English name.
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The stone is also referred to as a heliotrope, and gets this name from the Greek words helio, meaning ‘sun’, and tropos, meaning ‘toward the sun’. It’s said that the colour is also reminiscent of heliotrope plants that face towards the sun. The solid green colour that encompasses the rest of the stone is brought in as a result of the amphibole or Chlorite minerals found in the green Chalcedony.
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Chalcedony is a cryptocrystalline form of silica that’s composed of fine intergrowths of moganite and quartz, the minerals that make up most agate stones, too. Because of its varied composition, the green in bloodstone is not always evenly distributed and may have blue or yellow streaks in addition to green.
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It has been a popular gemstone for at least two thousand years.