The world of watches has had to say goodbye to one of its most talented artisans: French enameller Dominique Baron, just 45 years young, was one of the pioneers of this almost-lost art in the era of the mechanical renaissance.
After studying applied arts at the university in Strasbourg and getting a degree in enameling on metal from the national institute of enamellers in Morez, she apprenticed at Jaeger-LeCoultre under in-house master enameller Miklos Merczel.
Baron can be credited with creating the in-house enameling departments at Roger Dubuis and then DeLaneau—her claim to fame—after which she went independent. Her latest post at Geneva's premier dial maker Stern Créations, which she began in 2008, turned into a directorial function.
Baron was behind a great many decorative enamel dials in the watch industry in recent years and was known for experimenting with various techniques. She created for many brands including (but not restricted to) Patek Philippe, Cartier, Montblanc, and Laurent Ferrier. But certainly she will be best remembered by watch aficionados for the artistic dials she created for Van Cleef & Arpels' Poetic Complications.
With both her words and her art, Baron had a way of making the observer enthusiastic about whatever she was currently working on. She once told me the following, “When I look at my watch, I don't see a watch and its hands like the majority of people when they look at their watches. I see jewels, stones, mother-of-pearl…I plunge into a décor of enamel and paint that permits me to travel to the Orient, to imagine the colors, the shapes, the trees, the flowers, the architecture. I allow myself to be transported to this atmosphere of calm and serenity.”
On several occasions, she also professed a love of horology to me. “I am one of those women today who are just as interested in the aesthetic quality of a watch as its functionality and the complication that makes it a work of art.” We will miss her beautiful art, her soft-spoken demeanor and her fresh perspectives.
