Edouard & Léo Juvet One of the important Swiss horological families working for the Chinese market. Edouard Juvet (1820-1883) was first established in Buttes in 1842, but in 1844 moved his workshop to Fleurier. He began making ?Chinese? watches in 1856. Edouard's sons Ami-Louis and Léo traveled to China to work in the family firm.When Ami-Louis died there, Léo (1848-1891) took his place. In Shanghai, the Juvets were rivaled only by the Bovets, yet the two families maintained friendly relations. The Maison Juvet prospered, opening branches in Tien-Tsin and Saigon, to the extent that in 1872 Léo wrote : "Our watches sell like salt". In 1873, Edouard Juvet registered a trademark in Chinese characters, which was used on the company's products. He granted his son Léo power of attorney in November 1875, and after his death in February 1883, Léo succeeded him at the head of the firm.
A very similar pair of watches was part of the Lord Sandberg Collection. See: Antiquorum, The Sandberg Watch Collection, March 31, 2001, lot 361. Another was sold by Antiquorum, Hong Kong, April 23, 2006, lot 425.
Titus and Berenice Titus, the elder son of emperor Vespasian, was born in AD 39. From AD 61 to 63 he served in Germany and Britain as military tribune. He then returned to Rome and married Arrecina Tertulla, the daughter of a former commander of the Praetorian guard. A year later Arrecina died and TitusmarriedMarcia Furnilla. She was from a distinguished family which had connections to opponents of Nero. After the failure of the Pisonian conspiracy, Titus thought it best not to be connected in any way with any potential plotters and hence divorced Marcia in AD 65. The same year Titus was appointed quaestor, and became commander one of his father's three legions in Judea in AD 67 (XV Legion 'Apollinaris').
A serious threat to Titus' succession was his affair with the Jewish princess Berenice, ten years his senior, beautiful and with powerful connections in Rome. She was the daughter (or sister) of the Jewish king, Herod Agrippa II, and Titus called her to Rome in AD 75. As he had divorced his second wife Marcia Furnilla in AD 65, Titus was free to remarry. And for a while Berenice lived openly with Titus in the palace. But the pressure of public opinion, mixed with anti-Semitism and xenophobia, forced them apart. There was even talk of her being a ?new Cleopatra?. Rome was not prepared to tolerate an eastern woman close to power and so Berenice had to return home. The scene depicted on the present watch shows Berenice parting from Titus.