HH Magazine - December 2009
Christophe Roulet
Life, so it seems, is one long honeymoon for Fine Watchmaking and the applied arts. Stone-setters, enamellers and engravers play an all-important role, as every self-respecting manufacture likes to remind us. Only they have the ability to personalise, adorn and bestow an almost exclusive appearance on watches of indubitably industrial (read "machined") origin. Jaeger-LeCoultre provides one example among many: "There is something sacred in every Jaeger-LeCoultre timepiece: a passion for detail. The love that guides each craftsman throughout the watch's creation and which continues to the final embellishment."
"The applied arts are a cornerstone of our heritage"
Speaking at a study day organised by the Société Suisse de Chronométrie (SSC) on the theme "Watchmaking and its Artists," Estelle Fallet, curator at the Musée de l'Horlogerie et de l'Émaillerie in Geneva, insisted on the vital importance of the craftsman's hand in the watchmaking segment. "The applied arts are one of the cornerstones of our cultural heritage. They are heir to a multitude of expertises that have been developed and painstakingly transmitted throughout the centuries. Their history is a nurturing source of inspiration which enables them to embrace contemporary artistic currents. They add to a heritage which they also safeguard, through restoration work. Synonymous with perfection, these arts are a combination of gestures drawn from tradition and new technologies that are a prolongation of the human hand. They transform an ordinary object into a masterpiece. Materials are ennobled at their touch. A watch, worn as a symbol of prestige, is a work of art that requires the contribution of savoir-faire in multiple domains." Read more
