The Dial of Cartier’s Latest Watch Takes Nearly 100 Hours of Work. Here’s How Its Done

Cartier transformed a farmhouse into the setting of its Maison des Métiers d’Art in Switzerland’s La Chaux-de-Fonds watchmaking region. Inside, some 16,000 square feet of floor space is dedicated to blending ancient craftsmanship with watchmaking expertise.

This wall highlights the many shades of enamelling to show how the colours will look when they take shape on the dial.

Tiny paintbrushes, the size of a handful of hair strands, are used to paint the enamel of the dial.

Seventy-five blades of straw, in assorted sizes and 11 colours, make up the cat’s face.

The straw used in the marquetry must be finely sliced to length before it’s unfolded with a bone tool. The fibres are then flattened, soaked and softened in cold, warm and hot water. Finally, each is ironed flat.

The gold marquetry is created through parts that have been laser-cut into particular shapes to replicate the nuances of a panther’s form and shadowing. Each part must be cleaned, polished and manually curved before it is placed on the dial.

An artisan uses a paper outline to match the coloured straw to the exact specs of each laser-cut gold shape to form a colourful 3-D effect.

Various instruments, including tweezers and a scalpel, are used to trim and place the minute different pieces of coloured straw onto the dial.

A microscope is required to enable the miniature details of the dial to be perfected. Each piece requires more than 100 hours of work, 97 of which are exclusively for the dial.

The pattern of the panther begins to take shape as the craftsman applies the enamel powder, mixed with water, in the required holes by hand with a very fine brush.

Drawers contain 500 colours of powder used to create the enamel elements on the dial. For this piece, six hues were employed to bring the panther’s eye and black spots to life.

To secure the enamel in place on the dial,
it must first be fired in a kiln at around 1,470 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature is then adjusted to obtain the correct colourations for each of the separate enamel settings. It must be cooked 10 times to achieve the final result.

A watchmaker peers through a loupe to assemble the extra-flat manual movement in the case.

The culmination of many hours of painstaking work, the masterpiece is finally ready to top off the watch mechanism.

The finishing touch, before the strap is added, is the protective 18-karat white-gold case, which will preserve the wearable art.