Swiss silver pocket watch with a French tide display Circa 1810

Rare pocket watch with open face by Brothers Veigneur
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A rare French silver open faced Geneva pocket watch with a French tide display, circa 1810.
Full plate movement, one barrel, three-arm brass balance. Polychrome enamel dial with a 12-hour display, a small second, and a 2 x 6-hour counter for the ebb and flow indicator. It is finely painted in polychrome and shows two winged putti and a pigeon nest. Silver case with case maker punch mark JC.
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Diameter: 61 mm
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Weight: 122 g
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Signed: Fres Veigneur a Genève
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Under the name Frères Veigneur or Veigneur Frères, the brothers Isaac and Jean-Marc Veigneur ran a watch manufacturer between 1770 and 1796 for high-quality pocket watches and automatons with musical mechanisms, repeaters and skeleton watches. Also, they supplied the Chinese market (see also La Montre Chinoise by Alfred Chapuis).
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From 1796 to 1802, there was a partnership with Louis Ceret, one of the two directors of the Manufacture Royale de Montres à Ferney, which the famous philosopher Voltaire had founded. At that time, the factory operated under Veigneur Frères & Louis Ceret.
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In the Musée d’art et d’histoire, Genève, there are four pocket watches by Frères Veigneur, including one almost identical to the one offered here.