Watch Finishings and Decorative Techniques

Anglage

An angled chamfer is added to the edges of the plates and bridges for both decorative and functional purposes. Anglage is also referred to as chamfering or bevelling.

Applique

The indexes, numerals, or decorations are cut out from sheets of metal and applied to the dial.

Blued Steel

When heated to a specific temperature, steel hardens, forming an oxide layer that turns blue. Different temperatures create different shades of blue. The most common use is blued hands on the dial.

Brushing

Brushing or graining is a finishing technique in which the metal surface is delicately scratched. Spinning brushed wheels are used to achieve a brushed look with many fine-scored lines.

Champlevé Enameling

In this enameling technique, the base is engraved with a pattern that serves as partitions, which the enameler then fills.

Cloisonné Enameling

The enameler applies tiny silver or gold wiring to the base to create a pattern, creating separate partitions that can be filled with color. The wires remain visible.

Clous de Paris

A special type of guilloché or embossing on the dial that results in small square pyramids. This is by far the most commonly used guilloché technique.

Côtes de Genève

A decoration used on movement plates consisting of tightly engraved curved or straight lines. A rotating tool is applied to the flat surface of different components, such as the rotor or the bridges.

Enameling

An opaque or semi-transparent colored glassy substance is applied to a metallic or other hard surface for ornamental purposes or as a protective coating. The transparent glass is turned into different colors using metal oxides and, when heated to 800° Celsius, will melt and fuse with the surface below. There are different types of enameling techniques, such as Grand Feu, Cloisonné, and Champlevé.

Engraving

Three-dimensional scenes are hand engraved on the dial or on a closed case-back watch as decoration.

Flinqué

Any guilloché or engraving that is covered with a protective coating like enamel is referred to as flinqé.

Fumé

Fumé or gradient dials are achieved by spraying the darker hue onto a rotating dial that has already been through several coloring processes. The result varies depending on the intensity of the spray and the speed of the rotation.

Grand Feu Enameling

It is a difficult process that is nonetheless the most common form of enameling seen today. The effect of a grand feu enamel is achieved by building up many layers of enamel, one atop the other. Each time a new layer is added, the enamel dial is fired. Any imperfections render the dial useless, and the enameler must start again. Over 60% of enamel dials end up in the bin.

Grisaille Enameling

Grisaille enamel is an ancient technique of enameling that owes its name to the shades of gray it uses—from the French grisaille, which means gray.

Guilloché

A mechanical method of engraving intricate patterns onto the metal surfaces of a watch using a rose engine machine. There are different types of guilloché, including Clous de Paris, Tapisserie, Sunburst, and Flinqué.

Lacquered

The use of lacquer on the dial resulting in a very intense color, making, for example, white dials look like porcelain.

Marquetry

The process of creating a pattern, design, or picture on the dial using thin veneers or layers of other materials. The pieces are cut and fit together to form a decorative image.

Meteorite

The dial is made of thin slices of meteorite, and no two dials will ever be the same.

Miniature Painting

Miniature painting is the art of executing minuscule drawings on a dial. Most dials using this technique use synthetic paints. Miniature painting in enamel is still popular due to its intense color and durability.

Mirror Polish or Black Polish

As its name suggests, a mirror polish is when a metallic component is polished to an extremely high finish. Sometimes, in certain lighting, the result can appear to be black, hence the name “black polish.” Polishing is done by hand and is very time-consuming.

Mother of Pearl

A thin layer of crushed oyster shells is precisely machined into thin layers that are usually 0.2mm.

Opaline

A thin layer of opaque or semiopaque whitish glass is applied to the dial surface.

Openworked or Skeleton

This is where as much metal as possible is removed from the movement to expose its inner workings.

Paillonée

Tiny precious metal spangles are punched out one at a time from gold or silver leaf and placed between layers of enamel on the dial. One of the oldest and rarest dial decoration techniques.

Perlage

A decoration technique that comprises repeated overlapped circular graining, usually on metal. A watchmaker will apply the perlage patterns by hand using a special tool.

Plique-à-Jour

This enameling technique is similar to cloisonné enameling. The enamel is applied in partitions divided by a thin wire. However, the final product does not have a base or backing. The result is very similar to a stained-glass window.

Sand-Blasted

Sand is fired at high pressure resulting in a matt finish.

Satin-Brushed

A dense row of microscopic parallel lines gives metal a satin shine. Also referred to as satin finish or straight graining.

Sunburst

Sunburst is a type of guilloché technique in which the design radiates out from the center, much ike the rays of the sun.

Sunray Brushing

A pattern of imperceptible lines, like the sun’s rays, intersecting at the same central point on the dial. It is created using a brush, usually with metal filaments.

Tapisserie

A type of guilloche pattern that leaves lots of small squares on the surface of the dial, separated by thin channels. Sometimes called a “waffle dial.” The pattern creates hundreds of flat squares on the dial, most famously seen on the dials of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak.

Tremblage

An engraving technique used on dials achieved by the use of burin, which is a custom-made tool, to make a series of pinprick marks.