The Neapolitan mandolin comes from the lute family, from which it inherited its characteristic gourd-like shape. Its history is quite long; its form, as we know it today, dating back to Florence around 1600. Its sweet notes and particular quality made it a huge success in Italy, and especially in the region around Naples. In England, since the sound was very similar to that of the virginal, the mandolin soon became the basis of all young women's musical education. Many have unjustly labeled the mandolin an instrument of Italian folklore, when instead it has been featured as the solo instrument of choice of Vivaldi, in some of the works of Beethoven, Pergolesi, Verdi, Mahler, Stravinski, and even in Mozart's "Don Giovanni". This instrument was a perfect reflection of the time - a time when Rousseau of France (originally of Geneva) and Sturm und Drang in Germany created a philosophical movement of romanticism as a reaction or denial of the classicism of the 16th century.In Geneva the goldsmiths and watchmakers were inspired by what the mandolin symbolized, and thanks to its gracious form, they miniaturized it, creating tiny masterpieces in precious metals, lavish with multicolored enamels and oriental pearls, and such, transforming this instrument into jewels of fantasy, messengers of love, which discreetly adorned the breasts of their beloved. Watchmakers, such as Piguet & Capt, the Achards, the Esquivillons, the Bordiers, and Raymond, who were goldsmiths as well, were specialized in reproducing exotic shapes, such as musical instruments, fruits, flowers, good luck animals, flasks, and objects of everyday life, into precious jewels destined to the most refined customers of Europe. The bulging shape of the mandolin lent it perfectly to hidden treasures- a vinaigrette, a concealed watch, or even a minute musical mechanism, whose pins strum the vibrating steel blades, imitating not only the shape of the mandolin but its sweet sound as well.The magnificent watch of fantasy illustrated here is one of only four known, created in 1820 by Piguet & Meylan of Geneva, the other three jealously guarded in private collections. They are unusually large, and apart from the watch, they also feature automatons and play music. A fundamental difference between these four pieces and most fantasy watches is that these do not conceal the timepiece, but feature it as its most important function, just as a classic watch. The rare size permits even more luxurious decorations, this piece having polychrome champlevé enamel and translucent enamel on guilloché, natural pearls, gold "paillons", refined and delicate engraving, and such details, making this object extremely rare and desirable. The automaton, which represents two children on a see-saw, delicately beats time to the music. The placement and combination of the colors used for these exquisite enamels leads us to believe that this mandolin was specially made for the Chinese Emperor and his court, where most of Piguet & Meylan's finest timepieces and objects were destined. One of the four mandolins was previously in the private collection of Dr. Loup, then in the collection of King Farouk of Egypt, and today this piece is preserved by the Wilsdorf Foundation and exhibited at Rolex in Geneva.Two more, in a private collection, are kept in a Swiss vault. And the fourth, the present mandolin, comes from a previously unknown collection, where it has been preciously guarded for many years.