In Paris, Anita angrily argues that small crafts are only valued in a country like France, where art is valued, while in Switzerland the government has no support at all and is left to fend for itself. In order to survive, artists can only make unique goods with simple techniques. Luckily, there are three or two people in our watch world who are as real as Anita.

If you can find a way to persuade such a real artist to make a move, there is still a chance to collect good works. Recently, a friend got Anita's approval to paint Botticelli's "Spring", the jewel of the Uffizi Gallery, on the surface of his hand.

Nowadays, high-tech watchmaking is rampant, and the role of human beings has been reduced to almost the lowest level in history, which can only be compared with the quartz era. Most of the watches are cold, and there is no artistic atmosphere brought out by popularity. The hand-painted enamel watch gives people a warm feeling, Q once again invited Mr. Chung Yonglin, an authority on Asian watches, to tell you how to appreciate and collect enamel watches. In addition, we have made an interesting analysis of the enamel table.

Anita's full name is Anita Porchet, and her signature on the painting is "". She has produced many of the finest enamel watches from Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Cartier, Piaget and Hermès.

Her mentor was Suzanne Rohr and her husband Carlo Poluzzi, both of whom were among the leading figures in Geneva enamel. At the same time, Suzanne passed on to her the centuries-old enamel glaze and painting tools she possessed, so that her enamel paintings would have a different kind of jewelry brilliance, even if they were of the filigree type.

An enamel "teacher" once told me that modern science and technology are advanced, and what kind of color can be blended, but I am too lazy to respond. The Su Ma Liqing formula on the blue and white porcelain of Ming Chenghua has not been imitated by people for more than 500 years, and who can imitate that kind of thick and dignified precious light? Five years ago, Patek Philippe presented in Basel the "Judith", a pocket watch by Anita based on Gustav Klimt's painting of the same name.

This is a famous painting that people are familiar with, and there is no room for half a point of difference. But in addition to the fax, after the painting has been enamelled, it has another extraordinary brilliance, especially the gold color, which is difficult to represent on the canvas, which is almost dazzling on the enamel painting. Patek Philippe's President Lao Shiduan said that Anita is a new star in the world of enamel, and the future is limitless. In modern times, enamel watches are popular, and many brands are indiscriminately filling the numbers.

Especially in the production of filigree, the pattern is often overly simple, as simple as a pencil sketch. In such a climate, it is to be expected that Anita's work will stand out. I bought the "butterfly" cloisonné enamel watch she painted for Patek Philippe, using a lot of techniques that were mixed with miniature.

I am happiest that Patek Philippe allowed her to sign her name on the surface, which has never been seen in the brand's watches. Her signature is on the watch, as well as her recent "map" for the Count.

Unlike other people's work, she didn't casually fill in the color and perfunctory. The mountains and rivers have the richness of the mountains and rivers, the land has the sand and yellow of the land, and even the picture has the expression of day and night. All this is thanks to the foundation and inheritance.

Anita learned the art of entering the bezel of the watch, and in my memory the first time I could remember working with Piaget. Around 2003, the brand launched Anita's miniature enamel "Rose", making one piece a year, limited to three. I bought the second year's "Blue Ground Dostame Rose".

Like the fine brushwork of the flower illustrated book, the bright and luxurious crimson color, the petals are delicious and dripping, which makes me suddenly heartbroken. The delicacy that cannot be achieved with cloisonné enamel is expressed here without much effort. In the past few years, Anita has mainly painted filigree, and the difference in time between the two is not three or five times.

In the past ten years, in the auction records of various precious watch auctions, whether it is table clocks, pocket watches, modern watches, and antique objects with strange shapes, as long as they use enamel technology, the auction rate is very high, the price is extremely high, and it is very sought-after.

No matter what type of enamel is made, it must go through a very difficult firing process, each layer of enamel powder must be uniform, and the temperature and duration of firing must also be mastered by experience.

Otherwise, there may be bubbles, cracks or abnormalities, and the slightest difference in the pool will be scrapped as a whole, even if it is the last step, if there is a mistake in the firing, it can only be abandoned, so the consumption rate is quite high, and the general yield can only reach 30%.

Although most of today's watchmaking processes can be replaced by machines, the production of enamel dials must still be done by hand, without any mechanical equipment to replace them, and the low yield rate is what makes enamel watches expensive.

There are five common enamel techniques, including cloisonné enamel, plain enamel, pévé enamel, painted enamel and Grand Feu enamel.

Cloisonné enamel is generally made of gold or copper wire on gold and copper tires, filled with enamel of various colors, and then made by baking, grinding, gold plating and other processes.

There are generally three types of plain enamel, pure black, pure white and transparent color. Among them, pure black and pure white are both difficult colors, which must be repeatedly glazed and fired layer by layer; Transparent enamel, on the other hand, can be engraved after firing.

The inner filling enamel is not drawn with filigree, but on the texture of the metal, the pattern is made by the stamping method or the marking method, and the enamel color is filled in at the bottom of the concave place and then fired.

Painted enamel is to paint directly with enamel color, its process is to burn a layer of opaque enamel glaze as the bottom layer of the embryo, and then paint, fired in the kiln, in fact, it is a miniature enamel painting.

Grand Feu enamel is painted with multiple layers of color on the same enamel and then reinforced by furnace firing. When coloring, grasp the order from light to dark, starting with warm colors, and paint the same color system every time.

After applying a color, it is sent to an 800-degree kiln to be fired to melt the enamel, and then cooled naturally after being removed, and continued to be colored after cooling. This is repeated three times for each color application to be truly perfect.

The blue GrandFeu enamel tourbillon is applied to the nautical Grand Feu enamel tourbillon, which requires a high-temperature kiln to melt the enamel powder, and the dial is heated layer by layer, each layer to a very high temperature.

This repeated roasting eventually allows the enamel to settle and therefore does not crack over a long period of time. The flying tourbillon at 6 o'clock is homemade.

This mosaic turtle dial uses a total of more than a dozen different gemstones, such as agate, jade, coral, and mother-of-pearl, etc., a total of 1167 pieces, each piece of 0.75 mm square, thickness 0.4 mm small square, the early selection of materials, polishing and other processes needless to say, just inlay one, it takes more than 60 man-hours.

The elegance of the sheer white enamel dial is the main feature of this ultra-thin tourbillon watch. The sober white "Grand Feu" enamel dial gives people a sense of cleanliness and simplicity, and the sensory "eccentric" hour and minute indicator design further highlights the tourbillon mechanism.

Fitted with a Breguet numeral ring and blued hands, the time indication is clear and easy to read.

The thickness of this watch is 7.45 mm, and the thickness of the 581 calibre is 3 mm.

The 217th anniversary of the patent for the tourbillon, a revolutionary invention by Abraham Louis Breguet, is fascinating to commemorate the "Tourbillon Day" and to add a watch with both mechanical and artistic beauty.

Each enamel watch takes a lot of time to make, and usually a watchmaker can only complete one watch a month. The watchmaker first makes a placenta with a basic pattern, then fills it with enamel (glaze) to create a picture of the world map with one stroke. It is then roasted at high temperatures and sanded, repeatedly, before finally taking shape.

In more than 120 processes, a single mistake can render the enamel dial invalid. The rigorous production process finally presents us with an enamel portrait with soft colors, natural transitions and delicate textures.

In addition to the miniature enamel used in Canaan, Paco also mastered more complex enamel techniques such as inner filling and filigree, which of course were more expensive.

On the dial, Paco is proud of its ancestral enamel craftsmanship. This kind of hand-painted pattern by the watchmaker is very valuable, the number of watchmakers who have mastered the enamel process in the world is not much, to become a professional enamel watchmaker, it takes at least 10 years of training and practice, and Paco, with 3 world-class craftsmen who are well versed in the enamel process, is an important brand asset.

The enamelled dial decoration of the Paco Aesthetics Atelier is based on high-quality ancestral techniques; Filled with enamel, transparent enamel and upper shaft. In the infill enamel process, the openwork is created for the filling of the enamel.

Only by reading history can we know the present. When I went to the Patek Philippe Museum, I was most impressed by the fact that modern mechanical watches are following the old path of the past, and to be honest, all major brands have rarely made qualitative breakthroughs, subverted and surpassed, whether in design or manufacturing.

In the museum, you'll see Franck Muller's signature "Long Island" series, which Patek Philippe had already done in the 1920s;

You'll also see that today's popular transparent crystal cases actually existed hundreds of years before the very beginning of horlogerie;

You will also see that even the crystal plywood movement that is indispensable today by "Ximen Blowing Snow" is actually available for a long time, and the transparency of people's pocket watches is so high that it is like a snowflake;

Now the ultra-thin and ultra-small movement pursued by many brands is actually weak, because in the inconspicuous corner of the pavilion, an antique pocket watch is as big as a shirt button!

Blue eucalyptus especially likes to look at enamel, not only because I am a super visual animal, but also because I am always reminded of my insignificance, the honor of those dignitaries and dignitaries of the year is condensed on the enamel case, lifelike; And their bodies and souls have long since disappeared. People's love for things (clocks) is often also motivated by our desire for the sense of eternity (time).

At its peak, there were hundreds of miniature enamellers in Geneva, but today, with the closure of the last school to teach the art of enamelmaking, the Geneva School of Decorative Arts, in the 1980s, there are very few masters. It is the withering of stunts that has made the value of today's wonderful enamel watches continue to rise.

There is one city that is closely associated with enamel, and that is Limoges, located in the south of France. The enamel paintings named after the city have been mentioned in previous documents, which also illustrates the importance of the city. A special technique of enamel painting was born in the city of Limoges as early as the time of Louis XI, and Limoges enamel was used for enamel paintings on clocks and watches before the special technique of Geneva enamel.

From the 12th century to the 14th century, the art of enamelling flourished in Limoges, influenced by religion. Historical research has found that it is due to many factors such as natural history, economy, and culture that have made Limoges so prosperous since the Middle Ages. For example, the local acidic water can purify the enamel particles, and the wood can meet the needs of firing enamel, and the enamel products produced are inexpensive and easy to transport.

Later, of course, for religious reasons, the prosperity of the enamel industry shifted to Switzerland, and from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century, the enamel industry in Limoges began to decline, and with the technological innovation of the Geneva enamel process, the Geneva enamel industry became more and more prosperous.

In the fifteenth century, goldsmiths and silversmiths in Geneva began to make enamel. From the middle of the sixteenth century to the beginning of the seventeenth century, the shells of clocks produced in Geneva were painted with infill or Limoges enamel. It was also at this time that a new technique of painting enamel was born in Geneva, and this technology was soon applied to the production of Geneva watches, which Geneva is proud of. Since then, all enamel makers have been directly involved in the production of watches. ”

People will think that when a brand makes a batch of artistic watches, it should first decide how many pocket watches, how many watches and Dome clocks to make, and then consider the pattern, and then consider what kind of process is suitable for expression, as if this is more in line with the logic of product design.

However, Sandrine Stern, the wife of Patek Philippe's president Thierrystern and Patek Philippe's creative director, said, "We're not the same! "When Patek Philippe makes a special watch with craftsmanship, the first thing to consider is craftsmanship, that is, to decide how many miniature paintings, gold carvings, and micro wood inlays to make, and craftsmanship is paramount.

Decide on the process, and then decide what "type" to use, such as a Dome, a pocket watch, or a watch. After deciding on the type, the pattern is the next step, of course, the pattern should be coordinated with the master craftsman, whether the pattern is suitable, and whether the finished product is wonderful, etc., after many rounds of consideration, the sample will be produced after the decision...... Patek Philippe makes watches, such as cutting, such as learning, such as grinding.

"The miniature enamel is indeed delicate and exquisite; But you should know that not all patterns are suitable for micro-painted enamel; The mixing of transparent enamel and cloisonné enamel or enamel and gold sculpture is also visually appealing and equally exceptional in terms of craftsmanship. ”

Not long ago, eucalyptus globulus stood again at the Patek Philippe Museum. Every time I look forward to that room, my body will heat up, and that small room is dedicated to the special watches of the Chinese royal family. Yes, you read that right, the Chinese Imperial Special Watch Zone. I'm proud of my ancestors' aesthetic taste, and I'm proud that I have similar genes in my blood.

Usually, under the strong acid immersion of patriotic education, whenever we mention the Qing Dynasty, we will always unconsciously think of the Empress Dowager Cixi, the Treaty of Shimonoseki, the burned Old Summer Palace, how we were bullied by anyone, and then lament.

But in fact, if we face history squarely, we should know that the Qing Dynasty, a large aircraft carrier, was only not listed in the late period, failed to transform successfully, and took a detour for more than 100 years. During the prosperous period of Kangqian, the Qing Dynasty was an indispensable chaebol on our earth.

Qianlong ordered the closure of the other three customs offices and the Guangdong Customs that left Guangzhou alone to make Guangzhou a special foreign trade zone, where trading houses bought small Western goods (big ones were unlucky) and also sold Chinese agricultural products and handicrafts. One of the most important items in the small import commodity is clocks and watches. No kidding, the United States is not Mao; European stocks are really not bad. With a population of more than 300 million, the Qing Dynasty had the world's largest consumption power, and was the world's largest consumer of watches and clocks, just like China today.

The Patek Philippe Museum has a special section for Chinese royal clocks and watches because the Qing Dynasty aristocracy had a unique aesthetic for clocks and watches, and made great contributions to the development of clocks and watches, standing out in the history of clocks and watches.

First, in pairs.

Due to the growing ties between the Qing Dynasty and Europe, the gifts that the ghosts received from their Qing brothers were in pairs, so they felt that the Chinese liked to be in pairs; It turns out that they are really not stupid, good things come in pairs, and there is only one, which is not auspicious enough. Today is also the same dime, the clock at that time was also a very important gift, go out to give gifts, how can there be only one? It's like who gets married today, you can't give a watch, right? The last reason I think is a bit ridiculous, saying that the nobles who are not bad for money have been fooled, in case the clock will be broken and will be sent for repair for a long time, just buy two, even if one is broken and the other is on top.

At that time, the watch was not the same watch in a box, even if it was a pair, hey, advanced, the Chinese watch, must be "yin and yang symmetry", the enamel pattern on the case, the shape of the case and even the gem inlay, are in the opposite direction of the mirror. Achieving such an effect requires a great deal of artistic skill, especially in enamel painting, which is as wonderful as the picture shows. Take a look at the latest chapters of "Dream Claw Book House in the Great Era" and read it for free for the first time.