Pendant watch: museum piece with repeater and automaton, probably by Pierre Simon Gounouilhou, Geneva, around 1810

255-4324  Pendant watch: museum piece with repeater and automaton, probably by Pierre Simon Gounouilhou, Geneva, around 1810

Ca. 50 × 30mm, gold, set with Oriental pearls, top with eyelet on the back for attaching to a chain, slide on the back, beneath it are the winding and time setting mechanisms, on the face the enamel dial, above it the visible balance, set with diamonds, above it the bell, to the right and left the gold Jacquemart figure automaton, highly complicated movement with virgule escapement, quarter-hour repeater on bell, museum condition in original box, movement needs restoration but largely intact, bell missing. The maker of this extremely rare watch is very likely to be Pierre Simon Gounouilhou of Geneva, one of the most important makers of automatons in Geneva around 1800. A matching example is illustrated and described in ‘Montres de Fantaisie 1790-1850’ Galerie d'Horlogerie Ancienne in Geneva 1979. We are actually only aware of these two examples of this rarity. The somewhat more common version was as a ring watch. Several examples of this have already been auctioned, but only with a repeater and not with a Jacquemart figure automaton: 1. https://www.cortrie.de/go/L4W 2. https://www.cortrie.de/go/B40. The example shown here is considerably rarer and more valuable due to the figure automaton. Pierre Simon Gounouilhou (1779-1847) was born in 1779, settled in Geneva (Quai Neuf en l'Isle, No. 241) in 1799 and died in 1847 . He was a well-respected and very imaginative maker of automatons and musical objects, as well as watches, ring watches with virgule escapements and quarter-hour repeaters, and watches with cases that used unusual decorative techniques such as granulation. He left very interesting business notes full of information about the customs and practices of Geneva watchmakers in the early 19th century. His reputation was so large that his business attracted some of Geneva's best workers.