VACHERON CONSTANTIN – THE MASTER ENGRAVER, ARTISAN OF LIGHT
by WATCHILOVE
This post was originally published on this site
At Vacheron Constantin, the master engraver practices his art in relief or in line-engraving on all parts of the watch before they are bevelled and polished by hand.
Engraving techniques are combined with other crafts, from generation to generation, in a perpetual quest for innovation.
“In Haute Horlogerie, engraving consists of adorning a watch, bringing to life its material and the precious metal from which it is made by adding an artistic touch.” The master engraver at Vacheron Constantin loves to talk about her art: “When I create a motif on a dial or a case middle, I play with contrasts, light and volume”, she explains. “Sometimes I have to hint at a movement, an emotion, a desire. It’s miniature sculpture.”
Vacheron Constantin’s master engravers apply their art to all parts of the watch that can be engraved in relief or using the line engraving technique and then bevelled and polished by hand. These methods are often combined with other artistic crafts to embellish timepieces endowed with exceptional aesthetic value. The dials, casebacks, covers, hands, clasps, and openworked movement components are thus likely to be adorned under the blade of their scorpers, spitsticks or burins – tools developed as early as the 14th century that have hardly changed since. Engraving – involving numerous techniques for embellishing metal such as chasing and pounced ornament that enjoyed a real golden age in the mid-19th century – is now indissociable from Haute Horlogerie in adorning the finest timepieces and their movements.
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The post Vacheron Constantin – The Master Engraver, artisan of light appeared first on Watch I Love.
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