Description: Gold cased, full plate, front wound, gilt brass verge movement. Movement of simple French style construction, but very small. White enamelled brass dial with Arabic numerals. Brass ‘Breguet’ hands. Bezel opens by depressing a small button on the stem. Case bezel and stem enamelled in shades of blue with a white collar imitating pearls. The back of the case is chased representing three phoenixes imbedded in a scene showing a pine tree and low vegetation.
Additional Info:
The phoenixes (t: 鳳凰, s: 凤凰; fènghuánɡ) represent virtue, duty, correct behaviour, humanity, reliability (the Five Human Qualities), strength, resilience, good fortune, opportunity, luck, it is considered to be the most important of the winged animals. The pine tree is strong symbol of longevity in China.
Already during the early 16th century some European watchmakers specialised in building watches for the ever growing Ottoman Empire. The numbering on the dials and regulator dials are in Turkish script. Many watchmakers from Blois and Geneva moved to Constantinople to make up for the demand for watches. Starting from the end of the 18th century also the wealthy Chinese showed interest in European watches, ordering ever more pieces which had to be decorated in Chinese style. Often depictions of Chinese mythology or important symbolic decoration were requested to be represented on the watch cases. Especially bright enamelling on the cases was in high demand in China, during the 19th century the dials got inscribed with Chinese script instead of the usual Roman or Arabic numerals.
Antiquarian Horology 
