Swiss 18K gold musical automaton pocket watch Circa 1815

Gold cylinder pocket watch
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A Swiss 18 carat gold and painted enamel pocket watch with independent music and automaton, circa 1815. An Empire case, maker’s mark ID, polished back and bezel, reeded band with button at 5 o’clock to activate the music and automaton. Fixed gold and finely painted on enamel cuvette with a fine enamel painted landscape with a temple on the left. The foreground is applied with an automaton scene of chased varicoloured gold, with two seated musicians in antique dress, the man playing the guitar and the lady a harp. Driven by the musical train, the two move their arms.
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White enamel, Arabic numerals, outer minute divisions, two winding apertures and yellow gold hands. Gilt brass, full plate movement, finely foliate engraved, double train movement with cylindrical pillars, going barrel and cylinder escapement, plain gold three arm balance, flat balance spring, small pierced and chased gilt brass clock with jeweled end piece, Maltese cross stopwork, silver regulation dial, repeating on gongs activated by depressing the pendant,. Musical train with pinned barrel and eight blued steel tuned blades mounted in two stacks of four set between the plates. Signed on the movement ring in Henry Capt’s typical manner.
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Diameter: 57 mm
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Signed: Henry Capt  Genève
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Henry-Daniel Capt Born in Chenit in 1773, he married Henriette Piguet. He specialised in the production of complicated watches, musical watches and automaton watches. Among the first in Geneva to use the musical mechanism with pinned cylinder and tuned teeth comb, he was famous for his snuffboxes with music and automaton scenes. From Ventôse 16, An X (March 7, 1802), to 1811, he formed a partnership with Daniel Isaac Piguet, who was from the same village as he. Their signature was Piguet & Capt. In 1811, when Piguet broke off to join Meylan in a new partnership, Henry-Daniel Capt continued to work on his own until, in 1830, he went into partnership with Aubert and son, Place Bel-Air. Their signature was Aubert & Capt.
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They were among the first Genevan makers to produce watches with a chronograph. In 1844, the workshop was at 108, rue Neuve in Geneva. It was then managed by Capt’s son, Henry Capt Jr. After a short time, it moved to 85, rue de la Fusterie, and in 1851, to 177, rue du Rhône. In 1880, the firm was bought by Gallopin, and its name became H. Capt Horloger, Maison Gallopin Successeurs, a trademark registered on November 1, 1880, under the No. 44. This signature was only used for watches retailed in their store, the watches supplied to other retailers were merely signed Henry Capt. Henri Capt, along with Isaac Piguet and Philippe Meylan, was the foremost maker of small musical automata in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Most of his work is not signed, although he sometimes scratched his name on his movements.