This charming and highly attractive pocket watch is a fine example of the skeletonized automaton repeating watches that were so popular during the opening years of the 19^th century. The figures flanking the dial are made of chased and engraved multicoloured gold and are based on figures from classical antiquity. When the repeating is activated by depressing the pendant, the two figures seemingly strike two bells in unison with the repeating which is actually sounded on two gongs in the movement. The present watch is elevated to a higher level in featuring two further automatons in addition to the ‘Jaquemart’ figures. At the bottom of the scene, a goat nods its head, the goat is symbolic of the sin of lust and signals to the observer that a secret lies within – by means of a small slide on the case band, the goat panel moves to the side to reveal an erotic scene of a couple on a daybed for the private pleasure of the owner. The scene can be concealed again at will.

Jaquemarts have a long tradition and are mentioned in the first edition of the French National Academy's dictionary, which appeared in 1694, with the following definition:

"JAQUEMART. Figure de fer ou de fonte, reprsentant un homme arm, laquelle on met d'ordinaire sur le haut d'une tour pour frapper les heures avec un marteau sur la cloche de l'horloge."
Figure made of solid or cast iron representing a man in arms, which is usually put up on top of a (clock) tower to strike the hours with a hammer onto the bell of the clock."
Watches decorated with the miniature versions of these clock tower ‘men in arms’, particularly when featuring the additional complication of a concealed erotic automaton, such as the present example, are as popular and desirable today as they were in the 19th century.