Swiss gold repeating clock watch with four gongs Circa 1820

Gold watch with cylinder escapement
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A very fine and rare Swiss, 18 Carat gold, quarter striking, minute repeating clock watch with four gongs, circa 1820. The River God by Breguet & Fils, Geneva. The movement was attributable to Decombaz. An Empire case with a reeded band, the back chased with a seated figure of a river god below a shining sun and crossed oak and palm fronds. Hinged gilt brass cuvette. Gold engine-turned dial in a rosette pattern with radial Roman numerals on a polished chapter ring. Blued steel spade hands with polished tips.
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Gilt brass full plate movement with cylindrical pillars, double train with going barrels both on the going and the striking trains, cylinder escapement, plain polished steel three arm balance, flat balance spring with a regulator. An hour and quarter striking train with polished steel count wheel on the backplate, striking on two square polished steel gongs with two hammers. Minute repeating on two square polished steel gongs by depressing the pendant with independent work. Apocryphal signature on the dial and the cuvette.
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Diameter: 61 mm
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Signed: Breguet & Fils  Geneva
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Decombaz was one of the finest watchmakers working in Geneva at the beginning of the 19th century. He often worked for Breguet, specialized in repeating and complicated watches, and usually used either virgule or cylinder escapements. Minute repeating watches from this period are very rare, even more so when also fitted with an independent quarter striking train. The polished steel striking work on the backplate is very similar to that of the bracket clocks made in Switzerland in the Canton of Neuchâtel.