PORTRAIT OF QUEEN VICTORIA HUNTING CASE GOLD POCKET WATCH

ATTRIBUTED TO QUEEN VICTORIA SWISS,ENAMEL ATTRIBUTED TO LOUIS ROSSELET, 18K GOLD ENAMEL,PEARL-SET,HUNTING-CASED KEYLESS CHRONOGRAPH POCKET WATCH WITH 30-MINUTE REGISTER, MADE FOR THE INDIAN MARKET,CIRCA 1880

Estimation: HKD 350,000-500,000; USD 44,695-63,850 ; EUR 41,935-58,860

Description

Dial: white enamel, with radial Roman numerals, outer minute divisions, outermost chronograph track divided into fifths, minute register at 3, subsidiary sunk seconds at 9. Gold spade hands

Movement: English style, 15 jewels, lateral counterpoised lever escapement, cut-bimetallic compensation balance with Breguet balance spring

Case: the back painted on enamel with a peacock by a lake with Windsor castle in the background, the front with a very finely painted on enamel portrait of the young Queen Victoria, Windsor castle in the background, pearl-set bezels and bow, gold hinged cuvette

Dimensions:  52mm

Signed: case and movement signed Bovet in Chinese characters

Condition Report 

movement is running at cataloguing; case edge missing one pearl; the watch is in very good overall condition

Notes

Louis Rosselet

A well-known enamel painter of the second half of the 19th and the early 20th century, he specialized in country scenes, landscapes and portrait miniatures and often worked for the Chinese and Indian markets. He is known for his flower bouquets and the "Peacock by a lake" scene depicted in the present watch. Rosselet is recorded as having worked at Place du Temple 171 in 1857.

Queen Victoria

(1819 - 1901) Born on 24 May 1819, the only child of Edward, Duke of Kent, and Victoria Maria Louisa of Saxe-Coburg. In 1837, at the age of 18, she succeeded her uncle William IV. In 1840 Victoria married her first cousin, Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha. Albert's interests in the arts and sciences inspired the celebratory Great Exhibition of 1851, held at the Crystal Palace. The proceeds from the exhibition led to the foundation of some of Britain's greatest public museums, including the Victoria and Albert institutions that fueled the national pride, while reflecting the Queen's personal ethics and vision. Victoria died on 22 January 1901. Her reign had dominated most of the 19th century.