Feature
The poet Ferdowsi spent twenty years between 977-1010 writing a book called Shahnameh which contained 50,000 rhyming couplets dedicated to the history of Persia’s kings. In it, a warrior called Saam leaves his newborn son Zal on Mount Alburz to be raised by a magical bird because he was born with white hair, a sign of demonic possession. Much later they are reunited, and this tale of love and forgiveness is now captured in exquisite detail over a thousand years later using miniature painting, grand feu enamelling and paillonnage in a watch by Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Over two thousand years ago in ancient China, the great wall was erected to protect the Qin dynasty from nomadic hoards and the MasterGraff featuring a tower with diamond windows, baguette-cut diamond path and miniature painted forest, pays homage to that history complete with moonphase indicator and double-axis tourbillon.
The merging of art, history and poetry in metier d’art watches is reaching epic proportions this year and at Louis Vuitton, the Age of the Samurai is providing ample inspiration for their new Tambour Bushido Automata which counts enamelling and engraving within its repertoire with a mechanical calibre animating the central character’s expression flanked by Mount Fuji. On a gentler note, at Van Cleef & Arpels, lovers coquettishly flirt on a modern-day bridge kissing at midnight for The Pont des Amoureux Matinée watch brought together by a double retrograde and on-demand animation mechanism.
Grisaille enamel with the soft wash of a watercolour palette articulates a background scene illuminated by the moon as blue sapphires twinkle on the bracelet. Midnight tones also appear on the Eternity by Tiffany Wisteria watch which draws from cascading wisteria blossoms infused with the Art Nouveau style in plique-à-jour enamel and directly references one of Tiffany’s famous lamps. Night turns to day at Piaget on a single dial for the Altiplano Skeleton High Jewellery watch created in a collaboration with their Ateliers de l’Extraordinaire and enamel artist Anita Porchet. Grand feu cloisonné enamel connects with a skeletonised framework in a cacophony of artisanal skill fused to high jewellery wrapped around a stylishly slim movement.
In 1914 The Cartier panthère streaked across their first ladies’ watch and this year peeping languidly from behind laser-cut leaves at four dimensional levels, staring out with hypnotic emerald-green eyes against a white mother-of-pearl and lacquer dial is a new incantation in 36mm, limited to 50 pieces. Carved from black lacquered mother-of-pearl coloured with golden thread, panthère represents the enduring majesty of the animal kingdom. The Slim d’Hermès Cheval brossé designed by Dimitri Rybaltchenko features a simple portrait of a horse against an enamel blue sky made from crushed coloured glass fired with natural oils.
Deft brush strokes are achieved by hollowing a base and filling it with paint before using a flexible pad to transfer said paint to the dial in layer upon layer of colour. The ultra-thin Hermès H1950 mechanical self-winding movement fits snuggly beneath each design limited to 24 pieces. As the year of the snake unfolds, Dior’s Grand Soir with its Toile de Jouy printed dial and mother-of-pearl opaline serpent slithering beneath rose gold butterflies’ ushers in a time of transformation, intelligence and mystery.
There is no mystery about Les Cabinotiers Tribute to the Tour de l’lle as an ode to Geneva and 270 years of watchmaking at Vacheron Constantin because in its sublime execution, the full force of metier d’art is unleashed in a single, mind-bending unique piece. Bas-relief engraving in buttery pink gold a millimetre thick, chiselled trees and windows, polished roofs and clouds awarded a satin finish requiring 140 hours of work glint under sunlight. Time may march forward, but the poetry and artistry perfected over millennia lives on in these miniature works of art.
Written by Melanie Grant for Vanity Fair in April 2025 for the Spring issue.
