KIH
[Purist]
12044
Jaquet Droz - Paillon Dial
Jaquet Droz boutique Ginza now has a wonderful model with the Paillon dial, LE of only 8. I have been always impressed with the dial - enamel, rare stone, etc. - of JD, but this one is one notch above. In modern days, Paillon has been specialty of famous Mme. Anita Porchet, but now JD has in-house capability to make these dials. Well, it is true that a lot of brands now or plans to have in-house enamel department these days, though.
1. What is Paillon?
As many French speaking members know, "Paillon" means "metal powder" or "thin leaf of metal", in this case both refers to Gold. "Paillon decoration" got very popular in the 18th century and JD used it very often. The "thin leaf" was shaped like the star, cross, diamond-shaped, and such - more than 2000 types existed. Now there is virtually no one who can make them and Paillon Decoration today are made with those made long time ago.
Examples of "Paillon"
Each shape has been stored in this tube for a long time... Virtually no one can make any longer....
Hot enamel (from JD catalog)
During the process (from the catalog)
And, here is the result...
Surely, the dial is enamel, too.
Beautiful blued hands...
68 hours power reserve
43mm
2. Not only that...
The dial base (18K gold, in this case) is made with the technique called "Champleve" - engraved with guilloche or spoke-like pattern and treated with enamel. Here, to make this color good enough, it was burned at 800C more than 10 times.
The same photo as above - see the spoke-like lines on the base.
Tried to capture from the actual one...
Do you see the lines?
3. Then, "Paillon" are put on the Champleve base
Like geometric pattern, and then the semi-transparent enamel is put on and burned again and again.....
Other patterns. All LE of 8.
4. Other Enamel painted dial
5. Black enamel dial
I think black enamel is JD's specialty.... See the special attention paid to the date window frame - corners are rounded not to "crack" the dial when making holes..... (Date disk is not enamel, btw).
43mm
And this is 39mm version. Black enamel.
Like I said, I am always impressed with JD's dials. Well done. Wish they had a bit more inside... but one day, I feel that they will come up with surprisingly good watch as a whole.
Hope you re-discover JD skills.
Ken
This message has been edited by KIH on 2013-11-23 10:19:07
Jaquet Droz - Paillon Dial
Jaquet Droz boutique Ginza now has a wonderful model with the Paillon dial, LE of only 8. I have been always impressed with the dial - enamel, rare stone, etc. - of JD, but this one is one notch above. In modern days, Paillon has been specialty of famous ...
