Gods have never been a great subject for watch dials. The world's most worshipped is the hardest to grasp since he has no image. Even if he had one, representing it on a watch dial would seem too profane, too trivial for believers. The same goes for most religions on earth, with a major exception. Representing the Hindu pantheon isn't frowned upon. Among the 1000 or so gods it harbours, one is of particular interest. He is popular although he isn't really potent. He is graphic although he is no longer handsome. And most important of all, he is a protective figure, one of the world's most revered ones. Ganesha is the son of Shiva and Parvati. In a fit of rage, Shiva cut his head off and, on his wife's request, replaced it with... whoever's was at hand, which happened to be an elephant. He is the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the god of intellect. No wonder he is so loved and revered.
Watch brands struggle to find new expression territories. Blancpain seems to have gone where no one has before and is dedicating the latest creation in its Métiers d'Art series to Ganesha, although it was not the subject that gave the watch its name. It was the technique they used to manufacture its dial. Shakudo is a Japanese alloy, with very low gold content and mostly made of copper. It lends itself to the same array of transformation techniques as gold, with an extra ability : it can easily change shade or colour, without painting. Ganesha himself is a sculpture. He is of a red hue, which is logical because red is the god's actual colour. The background underwent Damascening.
The rendering is, one must admit, spectacular. The engraving is very accurate and has actual volume. Ganesha himself is adorned with many of his attributes. He is depicted sitting, with four arms and a pot belly, a rat at his feet, the most popular image in a variation-rich iconography. But the background is also striking. Deep blue, splashes of red, a hint of green, the peripheral parts of the dial boast delicate patterns, typical of Indian iconography.
The dial is housed in a red gold, 45 mm Villeret slim case, also harbouring Blancpain's slimmest movement, hand-wound calibre 15B, the one Blancpain seems to have dedicated to Métiers d'Art watches. The most astounding part is that the dial is made in-house. Most of these artistic renderings are generally subcontracted to specialized, dedicated workshops. But engraving has been a skill of Blancpain's for a long time. Shakudo is after all mostly engraving and it seemed logical that Blancpain should decide to handle it on their own. And so they did, and it looks great.
