735 - Lépine lady's pocket watch, 585 yellow gold, guilloché back with flowers and scrolls, circa 1900

Lépine lady's pocket watch, 585 yellow gold, guilloché back with flowers and scrolls, circa 1900 Case of 585 yellow gold (tested), with back cover; dust cover of metal. Small Lépine lady's pocket watch, probably Switzerland, crown at 12 o'clock with bow. The dust cover engraved “Genève”, “Remontoir”, “CYLINDRE”, “10 RUBIS” and “No 36151”. Back cover guilloché, with engraved wreath of flowers and leaves and scrolls, in the centre a cartouche with interlaced monogram “MW”. White enamel dial with black Roman numerals, outer minute track with Arabic five-minute numerals, blued hands with pierced lozenge. Gilt cylinder movement with 10 jewels, keyless winding, regulator with scale. Watch running. Good condition commensurate with age, isolated dents on the back. Diam. 32 mm, H. 10 mm, W. 27 g. The engraving “Remontoir” on the dust cover, the cuvette, refers to keyless winding via the crown, invented by Adrien Philippe in 1842, which made the watch key superfluous; from around 1870 it became general in pocket watches. “CYLINDRE” stands for the cylinder escapement, which George Graham presented in mature form in 1726 and which Swiss workshops fitted in large numbers into slim pocket watch movements throughout the 19th century; it remained in use into the early 20th century. An open-face pocket watch without a hunter cover, with the crown at 12 o'clock, is called a Lépine; the lady's gold pocket watch is considerably smaller than a gentleman's pocket watch.