ROBERT & COURVOISIER THE DUTCH KITCHEN YELLOW GOLD
Robert & Courvoisier, No. 799/769, the automaton movement attributed to Pierre Simon
Gounouilhou, Geneva. Made circa 1815.
Extremely fine and very rare, large, 18K gold and painted on enamel watch with an
automaton scene with five actions.
Double-body, "Directoire", polished with glazed back, concealed hinge.
White enamel with Arabic numerals, outer minute track with painted gold divisions,
regulation sector below 12. Fancy pierced gold hands. Magnificent varicolored
gold automaton scene applied over a finely painted ground depicting a kitchen: a lady
using a pestle and mortar sitting by a fire over which meat is being roasted, a boy peers
through a window above her, to the right, a dog running in a rotating cage turns the
spit, below a dog plays with a cat by a basket of vegetables.
50 mm. (22 1/4'''), gilt brass full plate with cylindrical pillars, fusee with chain,
cylinder escapement, plain brass three-arm balance with flat balance spring, regulation
via the dial. Automaton driven by an independent movement with going barrel and
five-wheel train, eccentrically mounted and adjustable pinion as the governor, driving
the automata by means of cams and levers, activated by depressing the pendant.
Numbered on the pendant.