French 18K Yellow Gold Gentleman's Pocket Watch and 18K Chain, Achille-Hubert Benoit, Paris. Hunter case, serial number "817," guarantee and maker's marks inside back cover, cuvette and front cover, marked on the exterior of the cuvette "A. Benoit & Cie." and "No. 817" in script,"VERSAILLES" in print, and around the edge "MANUFACTURE ROYALE D' HORLOGERIE FRANCAISE," engraved on the front with a cartouche enclosing the initials "CBR," on the back with a flower, both sides on a ground of curled fronds, the 18k chain clasps and 10k winder with guarantee marks.43.8 g. total weight (watch, missing crystal)29.3 g. total weight (chain and key)H: 2 in., Diam: 1.375 in.Provenance: Property from the Collection of Cortlandt and Nancy Knowles Parker, descendants of William Gray (a Salem merchant and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts), Jonathan and Susannah Powell Mason, Patrick and Anna Powell Mason Grant, Morris Gray (President of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1914-24) and Flora Grant Gray, and Major-General Cortlandt and Elizabeth Gray Parker. Spanning multiple styles and periods across the categories of furniture, fine and decorative arts, the collection has been housed in the family home, Greenvale Farm Estate and Vineyard, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, for six generations. Boston China Trade merchant John Sargent Barstow purchased 53 acres of land on the Sakonnet River during the early 1860’s and hired the prominent Boston architect John Hubbard Sturgis to design the main house, stable and barn. The historic Stick style home with Gothic elements was constructed from 1864 to 1865 by Edmond Coggeshall of Portsmouth, Rhode Island.Achille-Hubert Benoit (1804-1895), was trained by his father, Pierre, a highly skilled precision watchmaker. Achille-Hubert became director of the Royal Clock and watchmaking workshops at Versailles. At the 1834 French Exposition, he received one of the highest awards for a constant force escapement and his company Benoit et Cie received further medals at the Expositions of 1839 and 1844. Achille-Hubert became the first director of a new horological school at Cluses and it was during his tenure there that Benoit developed an escapement for a tourbillon.

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2 x 1.375 x 1.375 in