Etienne Boisson, (Geneva), circa 1710. Interesting and rare silver pair-cased watch with ' false' pendulum and hidden salacious enamel. | Important Wristwatches, Watches & Clocks | Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, 17th October 1992

Important Wristwatches, Watches & Clocks

Geneva, Hotel Des Bergues, Oct 17, 1992

LOT 213

Etienne Boisson, (Geneva), circa 1710. Interesting and rare silver pair-cased watch with ' false' pendulum and hidden salacious enamel.

CHF 9,000 - 12,000

Sold: CHF 10,350

C. Outer. Two-body, silver frame, decorated with silver pinwork over leather (worn). Inner. Two-body, plain, polished with split-bezel and loose-ring pendant. D. Silver champleve, foliage engraved surround with eccentric chapter-ring with Roman hour and Arabic five minute numerals, winding aperture at I o'clock, regulator scale at VII o'clock, with false pendulum aperture. Blued-steel beetle-and-poker hands. M. Giltbrass full-plate with Egyptian pillars, fusee with chain, verge escapement, the balance under the dial, with flat balance spring. Backplate set with a full size enamel plaque, bearing the words troquon-minon, which loosely translated by your scribe from the archaic French means Exchange is no robbery-or so it would seem (read on). The subject is a young maiden(?) wearing an expression that could be judged anticipatory and a perky hat sporting a fine pair in the brim, which are more than amply echoed by another truly rosy pair. On her right knee is balanced a feline looking exactly like the 'cat that got the cream', although in this case he/she ( gender unknown) has clearly got his/her teeth into something much more negotiable; in her Ieft hand the maiden is holding up a mouse by the tai], who it appears is likely to come off senously worst out of the deal, if one ignores the fate of the other poor fellow. Signed on the dial. In good condition. Diam. 55 mm. (of watch)

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Notes

Baillie records Etienne Boisson as working in London, although on this example no town is mentioned. Although the style is certainly typical of english watches of the period, the workmanship is more Swiss in character, notably the enamel which can be from nowhere else. Records exist of a Jacques Boisson working in Geneva in 1696, and it is possible that Etienne was from the same family, and that the watch was made for export.