Time Trends, Part II
Inside Story: Watches with Windows
Some watchmakers even decorate and embellish the inner
workings to make them even more intriguing to the eye. The most extreme example is the
skeleton watch, where the internal mechanisms are pared down and housed between two
crystals, thus exposing the entire movement. The mechanisms are often decorated with
elaborate details created through techniques like engraving and chasing that are
reminiscent of fine jewelry.
Face Facts: Judging a Watch by its Dial
What is one way to distinguish a fine watch from the run-of-the-mill? Look carefully
into the face! Dials of finely crafted watches often reveal as much about the
craftsmanship of the watch as the case and the inner workings. Many of the best quality
Swiss made watches feature textured dials created through a complicated engraving
technique called guilloche. The result is a dial with incised overlapped and interlaced
lines, usually in a pattern such as a sunburst. Many watchmakers create their own patterns
so they can be exclusive to their watches as a signature design. Others use a particular
guilloche pattern to identify a single style or collection of watches.
Since guilloche is an expensive, labor-intensive process
most inexpensive watches rely on factory printed dials or decals to create surface
interest on the dial.
Another popular trend in fine watch dials is the enamel
dial, which is created by firing a recipe of silicon-based sand which bonds to the metal
dial as a brightly colored glass. It's a technique that is found in jewelry and fine
collectibles such as Faberge eggs. The resulting dial color is intense, shiny and
saturated.
A subtle luster is achieved on many of the new jewelry
and dress watch styles by using thinly-sliced mother-of-pearl, the iridescent,
milky-colored interior of the freshwater mollusk. Mother-of-pearl may usually be a
pearl-like white but pink, blue and gray toned shells are also popular. On some dials,
such as chronographs, a different or contrasting shade may be used to highlight the
subdials on the face.
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