Engraved enamel: Why some dials never fade

Up close with the painstaking process that gives vintage watches an enduring quality—and why it matters to collectors today.

Happy Labor Day weekend. I hope this newsletter can give you some company during a car ride, flight delay, or simply a slow weekend morning.

In today’s newsletter: The lost art of engraved enamel dials, the painstaking technique that gives vintage Patek its enduring quality. Explained with lots of close-ups and context, so click the subject line above to view online. But first:

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The Roundup

• The steel Patek Philippe 1518 is back. Phillips will be auctioning the same steel Patek Philippe 1518 it sold for $11m in 2016, this time with a reserve of $8m. Rumor is it comes from a mega Chinese collector, perhaps the same one that bought the Paul Newman Daytona for $17m in 2017, among other important watches. “I would venture to say it is the [1518] that has changed hands the most times,” Ben wrote about this watch in 2016. I’ll be in Geneva in November for the auctions, taking side action on the over-under. Meanwhile, Davide Parmigiani clarified that the steel 1518 that he’s offering via private treaty for “in excess of $20m” is still for sale after presenting two offers to the consignor (rumored to be Fratini).

• How a billionaire brought turmoil and trouble to Sotheby’s (The New Yorker). A looong profile about what’s happened at the auction house since billionaire Patrick Drahi took over in 2019. It sounds like the “turmoil” has more to do with the struggling art market. Luxury goods, like watches, have actually doubled since the pandemic:

  “A current Sotheby’s executive observed to me that the watch industry alone is now comfortably larger than the global art market. It is possible that Drahi’s legacy at Sotheby’s will be to accelerate a change—in taste and consumption and the expression of desire—that was happening anyway.”

  An interesting stat, perhaps worth further dissection about how tastes have changed, and what that’s meant for watches.

• Sneak Peek: Berneron Annual Calendar (Unpolished). I won’t be at Geneva Watch Days, but I anticipate one of the buzziest releases will be Berneron’s annual calendar, which I was able to preview in April. It features a time-and-date layout logically read up-down and left-right, starting with the large jump hour at 12 o’clock. As I wrote then: It’s different from the Mirage, but confirms Berneron's true ambition: building an enduring brand. Here’s that newsletter if you missed it.

• Rules for Collecting. Earlier this week, I asked on Instagram: What are your rules for collecting? No kidding, I got hundreds of responses. I’m still going through them all. If you’ve got any rules, leave a comment or reply to this email. I’m hoping to run Unpolished’s X Rules for Collecting soon.

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The beauty of an engraved enamel dial

A closer look at the technique used to craft some of the most striking vintage dials.

Collectors talk about originality and restoration all the time. Core to this is understanding how dials were made. Through much of the 20th century, a few brands used a time-intensive engraved enamel technique, where the markings are engraved and filled with hard enamel. Dialmaker Stern Freres primarily used the method for clients including Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and Audemars Piguet.¹

These dials were designed to be cleaned and restored to last for generations, unlike the ink of pad printing, which fades with time. This engraved enamel process involves more steps and craftsmanship than printing, which is why it was only used by high-end brands. It’s what makes collecting Patek Philippe different from many other brands.

Whether you’re a collector or appreciator of these types of vintage watches—most notably vintage Patek watches through the ‘60s—it’s important to understand this method and see examples up close.² Here’s how it works: