Swiss gold, enamel and diamond set verge watch Circa 1820

Gold center second watch with date
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An elegant Swiss 18 carat gold, enamel and diamond verge pocket watch, made by Louis Duchêne & fils in Geneva, circa 1820. Open faced with center seconds and date of the month, subsidiary dial at 12 o’clock. The case back with a scene showing a couple of lovers, the painting on enamel on gold attributable to Jean-Louis Richter (1766-1841). The case back border with a décor of silver applied motif set with rhinestones and, on the lower part, an altar of Love; front bezel set with a row of rhinestones. White enamel dial with eccentric hour indicator with Arabic numerals, center seconds, eccentric chapter ring for date and filigree hands. A full plate, gilded brass movement, with fusee and chain, verge, monometallic balance and blued steel flat hairspring, pierced and engraved gilded continental cock. Signature on the dial and movement.
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Diameter: 54 mm
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Weight: 96 g
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Signed: Louis Duchêne & fils, Geneva
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Richter, Jean-Louis (1766-1841)
Learned his art in Geneva under David-Etienne Roux and Philippe-Samuel-Théodore Roux, becoming a most renowned enamel painter. His speciality was the painting of landscapes and particularly lake-side scenes and marine-scapes, often representing ships in a harbour or battles with fighting Men-of-War, but, on occasion, also portraits and hunting scenes. He did not often sign his work, but it is clearly recognised as being in his hand from the style and quality of the painting. He applied his art principally to watch cases and snuff-boxes, and these were largely destined for the Chinese, Turkish, British and Italian markets. In 1828, he was in partnership with Aimé-Julien Troll (1781-1852), and one can find work signed “Richter et Troll”. Richter, like other great enamel painters of the time, often found inspiration for his work from paintings or engravings by the artists then in fashion, particularly Claude Vernet or the romanticised English and Irish rural life.
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Louis Duchêne
Swiss watch manufacturer, Geneva and Paris. The company was founded by Louis Duchêne (1730-1804) around 1750 in Geneva, first trading as Louis Duchêne Co. and from 1770 to 1790 as Duchêne & Cie. In 1791, the company was renamed to Louis Duchêne & Fils and kept this name until 1820. Both sons of Louis Duchêne, Jacob Etienne Duchêne and Jacob Louis Duchêne, were partners in the company as of 08/03/2012.
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Rinaldo and Armida
The story of the sorceress Armida is based on Torquato Tasso’s epic tale La Gerusalemme liberata (The Liberated Jerusalem) of 1575. Armida is keeping the crusader Rinaldo captive on her island using her magic powers. Supernatural beings warn her that she will die if she holds on to her love for the Christian knight, but Armida ignores the warnings. She kisses Rinaldo passionately and falls dead to the ground.