Aesthetique Fanstastique

The revival of métiers d’art in watchmaking has created a renaissance for arts and crafts, and the results are quite simply exquisite.

- Jennifer Choo

The earliest 16th century watches were rubbish at telling time, not surprisingly as they only had an hour hand, did not have the protection of glass faces and had to be wound twice a day. Worn as decorative jewellery by the nobility, these “clock-watches” were not valued for their precision but for how precious and elaborately decorated they were. Today, with watch complications and limited editions becoming the rule rather than the exception, the world of haute horology appears to be rediscovering centuries-old techniques – from miniature painting to gem setting, enamel to engraving – to create métiers d’art timepieces that will capture the hearts of collectors used to only the very best.

Literally meaning profession of art, each extravagantly intricate watch is created by an elite group of experts practicing disciplines of refined aesthetic value which in many instances are rare and at risk of dying out. Several of the Maisons even have specialised arms dedicated to preserving these rare techniques whose sole purpose is to create jaw-dropping timepieces every year which fit the most superlative of design, aesthetics, engineering and technology on a wrist. Indeed, by elevating watchmaking above and beyond a purely mechanical feat makes the probability of a machine ever replicating these artisans ludicrous — and even more so when these artisans are putting modern twists on age-old crafts.