Stained Glass on the Wrist: Jaquet Droz Introduces the Petite Heure Minute Smalta Clara Hummingbird
Jaquet Droz has a long history of producing animal-inspired timepieces. In 2021 thus far alone, the luxury maker has unveiled the four oxen-emblazed watches and a dragon watch, these among many more making up the mythical and real beast legacy behind the brand. This week, the Swiss watchmaker is once again tapping this theme, now introducing the new Petite Heure Minute Smalta Clara Hummingbird.
The new watch takes its foremost inspiration from its namesake Hummingbird, and follows-up on the 2018 introduced Smalta Clara tiger models. Like the 2018-launched watch, the Hummingbird features the ?Smalta Clara? designation, which is an enameling technique also known as plique-á-jour in French the brand?s compares to creating miniature stained-glass windows. The technique is centuries old, the brand remarking it finds its origins 1,500 years ago, and is differentiated from other techniques like cloisonné, champlevé, or the famed grand feu.
The plique-á-jour consists of applying enamel to bottomless molds, with a gold dial partitioned into different sizes and shapes to make each of these molds. Each space is then filled with different colors of enamel, undergoing successive rounds of firing, to ultimately produce the desired look. Unique to plique-à -jour, each final piece of enamel features a transparency like stained-glass, providing a final style unique in its ability to interact with light, shadows, and reflections. In the case of the Petite Heure Minute Smalt...
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