Wonders of enamel

The incomparably delicate art of enamelling can be traced back to the late fifteenth century.

Enamel is a colourless and transparent substance which, when applied to metal and heated to between 800°C and 1,200°C, melts and is bonded by fusion to the metal.

Three thin layers of this transparent enamel, when polished, give the uniquely pure and luminous white of a Fine Watch dial. Patterns can then be acid-engraved or chiselled, and numerals and other markings transferred. On a flinqué dial, the metal under the enamel has been engraved or engine-turned.

Superb coloured enamels are obtained by adding metal oxides to transparent enamel. They are applied to the metal (usually gold) base using a quill or a very fine brush. The enamel is fired and the process repeated as many times as is necessary to obtain the desired colour.

There are three main enamelling techniques.

Cloisonné Fine gold wires, not even the width of a hair, form the contours of the pattern. The cells that they form are then filled with layer after layer of enamel.

Sometimes the enameller must perform this operation sixty times, and fire the piece twelve or fifteen times, as each colour fuses at a different temperature.

Champlevé The enameller hollows cells out of the metal, corresponding to the different details of the final design. He then fills these with different coloured enamels, firing each layer in the furnace.

Miniature painting The miniaturist traces the contours of the pattern or subject on an enamelled surface. He then applies each colour, grain by grain, using a brush with just a single bristle. The finished miniature is extraordinarily detailed and precise.

Only at the very end of this long process will the enameller discover whether his work is a success - or a failure- as the enamelled piece is red-hot when taken out of the furnace then blackens as it cools down before the miracle of the final colours is at last revealed.

Source : Richemont Group 2004