Swiss silver extremely rare early pocket watch Circa 1700

Extremely rare early pocket watch with automaton
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An extremely rare early pocket watch with automaton, made by Jaques Marcet in Genève, Switzerland, circa 1700. This watch features a heavily domed silver case of which the back locking plate missing. The silvered dial features an outer minute and hour track with Arabic numerals marking the 5 minute intervals and Roman numerals indicating the hours. The blued steel scroll- or beetle style hour hand and poker minute hand are later additions. The early movement, fitted with a verge escapement, also incorporates an automaton that displays a sequence of portraits while in operation.
The dial and the movement are signed.
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Diameter: 51 mm
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Weight: 112 g
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Signed: Mercet
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The maker of the item presented here was probably a member of the Geneva based Marcet watchmaking family, whose members signed their work using various forms of the family name. Automatons of this type, known as “wandering automata,” are exceedingly rare. Most surviving examples were produced after about 1800 by renowned clockmakers such as Bouvier. Enamelled examples dating from a century earlier, around 1700, such as the present piece, are of exceptional rarity.                   
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Marcet

The Marcet name belongs to an established family lineage of Genevan artisans. Genevan historical registries trace family members who worked across closely aligned luxury trades, including master goldsmiths making watch cases (Jean Marcet) and lapidaries (François Marcetz).

Jaques Marcet (often spelt Jacques Marcet or signed as Mercet) was an 18^th century master watchmaker active in Geneva, Switzerland. His career and historical records are most prominent between 1700 and 1750, a period that marked the golden age of Geneva’s handcrafted haute horlogerie.
During the early 1700’s, Geneva watchmakers operated under strict guild regulations. Master watchmakers tightly controlled the finishing of prestige pieces (finissage), using local specialized networks of enamelers, casemakers, and jewelers. Jaques Marcet operated at the very high end of this ecosystem.

No corporate entity, modern brand, or factory survived Jaques Marcet after his demise in the mid 18^th century. Because he operated long before the industrialization of Swiss watchmaking, his workshop dissolved with him.