Swiss rare, thin gold and enamel pocket watch Circa 1830

Open faced pocket watch by Moricand & Degrange
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A Swiss rare, thin gold enamel pocket watch with floral champlevé enamel ornamentation and chatelaine – original box, circa 1830. Both sides of this timepiece are divided in 16 flower-bedecked segments, with cutouts on the front for the digital time display. The pillow-shaped elements of the chatelaine are – like the watch – intricately decorated with champlevé enamel ornamentation.
Gold case. Silvered dial, apertures for digital jumping hours and minutes. Bridge movement, keywind, cylinder escapement, three-arm balance.
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Diameter: 44 mm
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Weight: 42 g
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Signed: Moricand & Degrange, Genève
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Swiss jewellers and watch retailers Moricand & Degrange were based in Geneva and active from around 1828 to 1845.
Moïse-Etienne Moricand, known as Stefano (1779-1854), was the owner of the company Moricand & Degrange and also a renowned natural scientist. He moved to Italy at a very young age to establish a watch retailing business. He visited primarily the regions of Tuscany, Naples and Venice, where he collected plants, butterflies, mussels and minerals and met with a number of Italian scientists. After his return to Geneva in 1814 Stefano became a member of the Société des Naturalistes and a partner in his father’s company at the Rue des Corps-Saints.
He was co-founder of the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle de Genève but in everyday life he worked as a merchant for Moricand & Degrange. We have no information on the business partner Degrange.
Stefano’s uncle Pierre François Moricand (1758-?) moved to Paris in 1797 and worked for “La manufacture d’horlogerie de Versailles” (1795-1801), also called “La fabrique d’horlogerie genevoise de Versailles”, until the company went into administration. Pierre François Moricand was married to the sister of famous miniature painter Jeanne-Marie Glaesner (1762-1823).