Swiss silver verge watch with enamel painting Circa 1800

Silver open faced pocket watch
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A decorative Swiss silver with polychrome enamel painting made by Girardier Laine, Geneva, circa 1800. Polished case back, silver plain case. The dial has a polychrome enamel painting décor around the dial, it’s showing a beautiful young woman languishing on the left, near a seaside on the right. The centre with an outer ring for the minutes, black Arabic numerals for the hours and blued steel Pear hands. A gilded brass movement, fusee and chain, verge escapement, gilt brass monometallic balance and blued steel flat hairspring, pierced and engraved gilded continental cock. The dial is signed.
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Diameter: 55 mm
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Weight: 97 g
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Signed: Girardier Laine  Geneva
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Girardier Laine
Girardier Laine (1759 – 1839), known as “the Elder”, was a master watchmaker who practised his art of watchmaking in Geneva between the second half of the 18^th and the beginning of the 19^th century. His product signature was linked to the art of Genevan enamelling with hand-painted miniatures on the dials. He was also a watchmaker who loved mechanical art for staging of playlets with automata, notably Jaquemarts.

The world saw the rebirth of a Geneva watchmaking company in 2018, and so a beautiful story of watchmaking that had fallen asleep at the death of its creator in 1839, rose from its ashes with the desire to participate once again in the history of watchmaking.

* A playlet is a staging of a few characters.
**A Jacquemart is an art automaton representing a carved wooden or metal figure, which indicates the hours by striking a bell with a hammer.