SIHH 2011年Cartier

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This Ballon Bleu with monkey motif is decorated with champlevé grand feu and set with diamonds.

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Also decorated with the same enamel technique is this Santos 100 with hummingbird motif. Like the monkey Ballon Bleu, this Santos is not to my taste though I respect the craft it embodies.

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One of my favourite watches of the fair is the Tortue XL jaguar motif from the Metier d’Art range. Hand-engraved in relief and decorated with champlevé grand feu enamel, this watch makes a radical statement. The detail of the jaguar is amazing – look at the close-ups of its eyes.

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More subtle but no less challenging in terms of technique is the Rotonde de Cartier jumping hours with bear in wood marquetry. 38 pieces of wood which have been painstaking cut into shape are pieced together like a Lilliputian puzzle to form the bear’s head. And though it’s only 38 pieces it takes 160 hours to complete.

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Another watch whose appearance belies its complexity is the Rotonde with turtle mosaic. The marquetry bear’s head is on an enormous scale compared to this. Formed with 1167 miniscule pieces of semi-precious stone only 0.75 by 0.4 mm wide, the turtle takes 60 hours just to form by hand.

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