This is a one terrific find. I do not have the exact year of manufacture but would guess it should be in the late 1880s or so. Made by an esteemed watch company Golay Fils & Stahl as signed on the movement. The case measuring 30.15 mm long by 25.40 wide (without the closure) and by 9.2 mm thick is totally hand constructed in 18K yellow gold. As someone who has worked quite a bit in goldsmithing I marvel at the highest quality of work I see here. There are 6 separate hinges at work here. The front and back are decorated with hard enamel. Blue with white border. In addition there are swirly design elements in gold that I believe where soldered to the surface similarly to the technique used in cloisonne` enameling. The bail and the closure are similarly enameled. The crystal measures 12.8 mm in diameter and is surrounded by 32 rose cut diamonds which are bead set. The dial is white enameled with black Roman numerals. The 3 sides of this case are decorated with engraved lines to resemble the look of book pages. Once you undo the closure you find 3 picture frames which unfold out for display. The original movement is signed and numbered and the case is numbered too. The movement is running strong although losing a bit of time. As one can see from the detailed pictures there are a few places where the enameling has chipped off. On viewing without magnification it is not distracting from the beauty of this rare piece. The top diamond set piece was added later to allow this beauty to be worn as a broach. It is easily removed or attached as one wishes. We have conducted some research on the Internet and found a few examples from previous auctions at Sothebys and Antiquorum. Here is one that sold in Hong Kong on October 6th 2011 for over $16,000!! http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2011/important-watches-hk0356/lot.3625.html
Here is another one that sold at the Antiquorum auction in 2007 for 8850 Swiss Francs. This price was obviously low because of the economic situation at that time and most collectibles saw lower prices. http://catalog.antiquorum.com/catalog.html?action=load&lotid=184&auctionid=177
Priced $18,250 Make Offer Text 702 526 8524
