Pendant Watch

The movement of this watch is signed DUTARTRE A PARIS, which refers almost certainly to a member of the Dutertre dynasty of watch and clockmakers. At the time this watch was made, several Dutertres were active in Paris: the brothers Jean Baptiste, Jean Abraham, and Nicolas Charles Dutertre; and Nicolas Charles’s two sons, Jean Baptiste and Charles Nicolas Dutertre. Watches decorated like this one, in various shades of gold, were particu­larly fashionable at the time. The colors were obtained by adding alloys to the precious metal; for example, copper, to achieve a pinkish tone.

Source: Vignon, Charlotte. The Frick Collection Decorative Arts Handbook. New York: The Frick Collection/Scala, 2015.