Swiss watch with processional automaton and chatelaine Circa 1800

Gold and enamel two-train watch by Roux Bordier, Roman & Co.
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A Swiss gold and enamel two-train watch featuring a processional automaton and chatelaine, circa 1800. The watch features a gilded full plate movement with separate trains for going and automaton, verge escapement, fusee and chain, and cylindrical pillars. It is equipped with two dials: the first one is a white enamel, eccentric time dial with Arabic numerals and an outer minute ring, gold hands, a subsidiary dial above for regulation, and two apertures for winding going and automaton trains. The second dial showcases champlevé enamel in light blue, black, and white, depicting various scenes including a balustrade, a dog barking at a bird in a tree, and a processional automaton showing a carter, children on a seesaw, and a lady with a stick, all against a background with a vernis Martin-style lacquered scene of a windmill.
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The gold case is adorned with black champlevé enamel on the bezels, and there is a slide to the left of the pendant for activating the automaton. The gold pendant is numbered 1447. The matching chatelaine features a pendant hook with a panel depicting a maiden before an altar of love in wax against a translucent blue guilloché enamel ground, the main panel with shepherds and their flock rendered in wax against a similar enamel background, and four pendant chains terminating in a key, blank seal, and two tassels, with a pendant hook in steel.
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Diameter: 53 mm
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Length overall: 235 mm
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Signed: Roux Bordier, Roman & Cie.
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The automaton is currently in motion, but it is not operational, and its train is fully wound. The dials are in good condition, but the lacquered background of the automaton scene is crazed. The case is polished, with some small chips and losses to the black champlevé enamel. Additionally, the back dial lacks its securing screw and is therefore loose. The chatelaine shows signs of scuffs and scratches, but the panel scenes are in good overall condition.
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Roux, Romand, Bordier & Comp was a watchmaking firm based in Geneva from 1794 to 1811. The firm was also known by variations of the names Roman (d), Roux, Bordier & Comp, Roux, Bordier, Roman & Comp, and Bordier, Roux, Roman (d) & Cie. The Bordier brothers, Ami Bordier and Pierre Bordier were established watchmakers affiliated with the guild in 1794. By 1815, they were working at the Grand Mézel. In 1794, they formed a partnership with Roux and Romand, leading to the establishment of the firm Bordier, Roux, Romand, and Cie. During the years 1794–1811, the firm specialised in manufacturing automaton repeaters and complicated or skeletonized perpetual calendar watches, often adorned with enamel paintings, pearls, and precious stones.