In celebration of the Chinese Year of the Rat, Blancpain unveils its finest craftsmanship with its first porcelain dial – the Métiers d’Art Porcelaine.

There are some timepieces oh-so-exquisite, their delicacy turns out to be their strength. Blancpain unveils such eight-pieces, limited edition watches commemorating the first animal of the zodiac – the Rat. After more than one year of development and testing, the special series has been eloquently handcrafted in-house at the Métiers d’Art workshop.

HOW THE DIAL TOOK FORM

Incorporating long drying and firing stages, creating the porcelain dial has been a work of patience and compassion. Presented in the form of a powder mainly composed of quartz, feldspar and kaolin, porcelain is first diluted in water. The resulting pulp is sieved and filtered to remove all residues and impurities, before being cast in dial-shaped molds.

Further after, demolding takes place and the dials are dried for 24 hours before being fired at 1,000°C for the same hours. This first step in the kiln hardens the dials and prepares them for enamelling. The second step involves the enamel being rigorously applied by hand to each dial before a second 24-hour firing at 1,300°C that serves to vitrify the porcelain and make it shiny, translucent and stable.

 

THE SYNERGY OF ENAMEL AND PORCELAIN

Each element and pictorial on the dial has been painted by the hands with an extremely fine brush, throwing light on the artistic approach of Blancpain. What is even more fascinating is how the colours fixate on the porcelain. What would have been impossible at a temperature of 1,200°C, the Métiers d’Art Porcelaine proves to be a breakthrough.

SPECIFICATIONS

With a 33 mm diameter white gold case featuring a bezel set with 48 brilliant-cut diamonds, the Métiers d’Art Porcelaine watches are powered by a 1154 automatic movement, whose exquisite finishes may be admired through a sapphire case-back. An alligator leather strap sets the perfect finesse to these exquisite timepieces.