By the time this watch was made, Piguet & Meylan were the most eminent makers in Geneva for such prestigious watches sold in China or presented to the Emperor or to Chinese dignitaries coming to Europe on official business. Since Piguet & Meylan had no direct agent in China, they had to rely either on wholesalers in England trading with China or traders on location. Only these wholesalers and traders had the connections and introductions required to reach the Court or government who were the potential buyers of such outstanding pieces. However these wholesalers and traders did not wish the name of the maker to appear on these watches, which explains why they were rarely signed. An identical watch , the front plate beneath the dial marked "P.M.", Piguet Meylan trade mark, was sold by Klaus Niedheidt Auktion XXIII on 4th Novembre 1989, lot 154. A pair of very similar watches was sold by Antiquorum in Hong Kong, in May 1980. Philippe Samuel Meylan, born February 15th, 1772 in Bas-du-Chenit, died in 1845. At 20 years old he came to Geneva where he worked for the Godemar Freres in quality of Master worker. Afterwards he went back to Brassus where he founded a little factory in 1811. He then returned to Geneva were he settled. He met there an other watchmaker from his own village, Isaac Piguet, with whom he associated, founding the Piguet & Meylan Firm, which lasted from 1811 to 1828. It specialised in minute "cadratures", musical watches, skeleton or automaton watches, mechanical animals and figures. Daniel Isaac Piguet, born in Chenit in 1775, died in Geneva in 1841. Very skilful watchmaker, he associated himself a first time with Henry Capt, from 1802 to 1811, then with Samuel Philippe Meylan, another watchmaker from the same village, until 1828. Their works were signed or marked "P.M." within a lozenge. After 1828, he went on with his activities with his son, under the name of Piguet ID & Fils. Their creations were for a large part made for the Chinese Market. It is told that an important collector from Sidney bought a large quantity of watches and other musical and automaton objects of vertu, but the boat which carried the pieces was a shipwrecked, in the middle of the Indian Ocean.