This unusual watch with a 24-hour dial (face) needed only to be wound once each week. Initially, during the French Revolution, the dial might have been calibrated in the decimal system for a ten-hour day and was later converted to the normal 12-hour system.
The image of Franklin reading beside a bust of Isaac Newton is based on a portrait painted in London in 1766-1767 by David Martin (English, 1737-1798). Breguet et fils was a firm founded in Paris in 1775 by Abraham Breguet, an immigrant from Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
On this watchcase, translucent layers of "basse-taille" enamel have been applied over a guilloché engraved surface that has been cut into the gold. The decoration consists of engraved floral and rocaille scrolls, and a basket of flowers suspended by a ribbon.
On the back of the watch is a pierced plaque with diamonds set in the design of a basket and floral spray. The front of the case is engraved and enameled with scenes of doves and animals in a landscape. The winding key is painted with a fancy portrait of a young girl.
Portrayed on the case made in southern Germany in about 1745 are Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit trees; Vertumnus, the god of changing seasons, in the guise of an old lady; and Cupid.