Louis Erard?s latest limited edition is another watch in what has become an ongoing exploration of traditional craft at an affordable price point. This is continuing theme in their recent releases (the ones that aren?t regulators made with a collaborator, at least) and one can easily draw a line from this new watch with a Grand Feu enamel dial and previously issued pieces that featured guilloche work and exotic stone dials. The new watch seen here, officially dubbed the Excellence Émail Grand Feu II 39mm (we?ll go with Grand Feu II from here on out) puts a focus on the difficult process involved creating a multi-colored enamel dial, with a total of three colors represented on the Grand Feu II. 

In this period of widespread experimentation in the independent and micro-brand watch scene, we probably take the use of multiple colors in a single dial for granted. The fact is, however, that the degree of difficulty goes up whenever a new color is added to a dial, and it becomes easier to spot imperfections in the painting and printing process with every new hue. With an enamel dial, the challenge is exacerbated as each color has to be fired separately in a kiln at a temperature of more than 800°C. Each firing requires meticulous preparation on the part of the enameler, and the more frequently a dial is subjected to the kiln the greater the chance something will go wrong, and the whole process will need to start over. 
For the Grand Feu II, the base color is a...