French 20K gold and enamel verge pocket watch Circa 1640

Gold full hunter verge pocket watch 
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A French gold and enamel verge pocket watch, circa 1640-1650.
The case with paintings of Faith, Hope and Charity on both sides, a polychrome enamel scene depicting Charity on the front, another with Faith and Hope on the back, and the band and inside of the case also with painted enamel landscape scenes. White enamel dial with Roman hours, a polychrome enamel landscape in the centre, a single gilt and an engraved double ended hand. Gilt metal, brass and blued steel verge escapement, steel balance wheel, a single foot balance cock, pierced and engraved cover for the ratchet regulator, brass plates and wheels, fusee with renewed gut line.
Movement signed.
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Signed: Nicolas Bernard Paris
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The case of this watch is a fine example of an important development in the history of enamelling. In about 1630, improved techniques made it possible to execute a miniature painting in enamel in a wide range of colours. The metal was covered with an enamel ground and fired in the kiln. It was then painted with metal oxides mixed with oil. Each colour had to be fired to fuse it onto the enamel ground. Such was the potential of the new technique that some watch cases, like this one, became wider and flatter to provide an extensive surface for enamelling. The method was used to decorate watches and other goldsmiths’ work and paint portraits in miniature. The key figures in this development, among whom the leading role is given to Jean Toutin (1578-1644), were enamellers and goldsmiths in Paris, Blois and Châteaudun, who had close links with watchmakers.
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Jean Toutin was born in 1578 and died on June 14, 1644. He was a French enameller and one of the first artists to make enamel portrait miniatures.
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Nicolas Bernard, who signed the movement of this watch, became a master in the Paris Corporation of Clockmakers in 1636. He had a son in 1642 and died in 1670. In 1645 he was one of five watchmakers who put forward twenty four articles to provide a new constitution for the Corporation, which received the approval of Louis XIV on February 20 1646.