SIHH Round-Up #1: Jaeger-LeCoultre's Enamel Dials

The 2014 Salon International De La Haute Horlogerie is a wrap. As the first of the two major Swiss-watch-industry trade shows (March's Baselworld is the second), SIHH opens the new-model season for high-end watches the way auto-show season opens the floodgates of new-motorcar debuts.

This year, the sixteen exhibitors on the floor of Geneva's Palexpo Exhibition Center chose to hone established products and refine their strengths.

This, the first installment of 300watches' SIHH 2014 retrospectives, will focus upon Jaeger-LeCoultre's expanding investment in an art form that many observers had considered virtually dead: enameling.

JLC debuted two new enamel-dial watches at SIHH: the Master Ultra Thin Grand Feu and the Duometre a Quantieme Lunaire. Both watches feature an opaque, white-enamel dial bearing the signature “Email Grand Feu” (“grand feu” refers to a particularly excruciating process that involves multiple firings of the dial).

The Master Ultra Thin features the legendary 1.89mm thick JLC caliber-849 in a serialized production version of the MUT Jubilee from 2013. The entire watch is 5.04mm thick and 39mm wide. The enamel dial is available only in a white-gold case.

The Duometre is otherwise identical to the caliber-381“a Quantieme” moon and calendar model, but the bone-white-enamel dial allows the colorful accents to explode in vivid contrast.

Enamel dials represent one of the most confounding fabrication challenges in the high-end watch industry. First, enamel paint elements must be ground from glass and metal. Then, the mix is cooked. An artisan paints the resulting mixture onto a metal base that serves as a canvas for anything from a solid color to an elaborate image with inlaid metal and translucent layers to convey depth.

Finally, several kiln-fired heat cycles elevate the enameled dial to over 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Due to the many opportunities to make a mistake, the discard rate is high, and the process is slow. A single, viable enamel dial may be the product of more man-hours than some companies devote to an entire watch.

Heads up: Even if all steps are conducted properly, an enamel dial may explode of its own accord during any phase of the firing process. However, the result is a rare beauty that defies the aging effects of UV light, moisture, and temperature. An enamel dial from the Jazz Age can appear as brilliant today as it did on Rudolph Valentino's wrist.Bekijk meer horloges replica en carl f. bucherer replica