The creation of an enamel dial is one of the most high-risk of the high-arts.
The process itself is an ancient one yet the finished product is one of fine art’s most challenging to produce successfully. There are several types of enamel techniques, including Cloisonné, Flinqué and miniature painting. However, the rarest of the techniques is Pailloneé. This method takes its name from the decorative gold foil motif elements or “paillons” that are laid over an enamel dial base and then immured in further layers of translucent enamel.
At Jaquet Droz, only one person in the world is capable of creating Pailloneé dials that live up to our exacting standards. This person is Anita Porchet. Ms. Porchet is considered a master in the art of enameling. Reminiscent of artisans from centuries past, Ms. Porchet works independently out of her home studio located in the countryside between Geneva and Lausanne.
When Jaquet Droz began developing the Pailloneé dial, the goal was to recreate the art form in the same manner as ancient masters. Unfortunately, there were no records from artisans in the 1700s on their enameling techniques. Therefore, multiple experiments were performed and many months were spent by Jaquet Droz and Ms. Porchet during their attempts to replicate the pailloneé motif.
The choice of a base dial material is important. Gold, not copper, was chosen because of its medium-high melting point, suitable coefficient of expansion, and low modulus of elasticity. These properties are important for the base metal because glass also changes properties during heating and cooling. Ignoring these characteristics would cause cracks to develop inside the enamel. White gold alloy also has oxidation characteristics which allowed for the reproduction of the trademark Jaquet Droz blue color while maintaining the brilliant and translucent properties of glass.
To start the process, the base dial is hand guilloched for a subtle but distinctive pattern under the transparent enamel (flinque). After application of 3 layers of translucent blue enamel, Ms. Porchet then applies the gold pailloneé leaves (about 220 in the Petite Heure Minute dial) and arranges them into the design one leaf at a time by hand.
The 14 K gold Pailloneé leaves used in the Jaquet Droz pailloneé dials were hand produced in the 1700s. These paillons were given to Ms. Porchet from a retired headmaster of an enameling school and are the last examples remaining. Once the individual gold leaf is set on the dial it is permanent. So one mistake and not only is the dial ruined but so is the antique gold leaf.
After the paillons have been applied, Ms. Porchet applies another 6-7 layers of the translucent blue enamel and fires the dial each time. Finally, the dial is carefully polished and the dial is ready to be set into the case. The total working time from start to finish is about 5 working days (50 – 60 hours) per dial. The final result is a work of art unmatched in the world of horology.
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