The business of manufacturing highly decorative clocks and watches for the Chinese Market by European makers flourished for approximately 150 years; begining in the 1750's and finally ending with the Boxer rebbellion in 1904. Beginning initially with clocks and coach watches, it was at the end of the 18th century that the english makers began to export watches with Swiss enamelled cases, initially from workshops associated with Jaquet Droz and subsequently from Geneva artists such as Dupont and Richter. The decoration and construction of this case is a classic example of the Geneva school. The decoration in enamel of large size cases enjoyed a renaissance in the second half of the 19th.century, particularly the hunting scenes destined for the burgeoning Indian Market, and such work enjoyed continuing popularity until the virtual demise of enamel painting in the early 20th. century. The watch now offered for sale presents a fascinating insight into the continuing value attached to such pieces long after the European market had come to treat a watch solely as a means of accurate timekeeping. It is to be presumed that the original watch back was by some means lost or damaged, and the present scene,which is not a copy of the earlier styles, but a specially commissioned and executed work in the populist manner of the period. The portrayal of the young woman is influenced by the growing acceptance in society of the idea of equality and independance of the sexes, as put forward by Freud and such artists as Schnitzler and Klimt. Too little research has been carried out to date to attempt an attribution for the enameller, but such notable craftsmen as Champod, Rosselet, Rissot and Juliette Hebert were still alive in Geneva at the time.