What we now call 'vitreous enamel' or 'jewelry enamel' or 'torch fired enamel' is what used to be called 'enamel', literally back to the Mycenaeans. It's fused glass with impurities, full stop. Those impurities tend to be toxic, particularly if they are translucent - Japanese enamel is favored by jewelry enamelists because it has all the delicious cadmium, lead, manganese, etc that fuse into the lovely colors favored by Art Nouveau.
What we now call 'soft enamel' is also called 'paint.' Nobody protected enamel as a trade or process so everyone has been free to call any process or coating 'enamel' for 100+ years.
What we now call 'hard enamel' can also be called 'nail gelcoat.' It's epoxy, UV-cured or otherwise, that is substantially more durable than 'soft enamel' and nowadays, more durable than 'vitreous enamel.' It can also be called 'ceramic' or 'nano-ceramic' depending on what's in the resin and how these processes are sold. Invacon Hyceram is polymer goo cured in an autoclave that ends up as a lot of chapter rings and luminous indicators in the watchmaking industry. It can be ground, polished, and even machined. It imitates colors and lusters very similar to expensive fingernail polish.
ON ENAMEL DIALS
'Vitreous enamel' was used extensively for pocket watches. It is, simply put, melted sand and as such, adds thickness and bulk to the dial - because the expansion coefficient of glass is different than silver/brass etc it is necessary to add a coat on the back for every three or four coats on the front or else the dial cups and cracks. This is an expensive process for expensive product, and something people forget is that the Swiss didn't make expensive product until the American watch industry subsumed itself in military chronometers, instruments and timers. Breguet fled The Terror for Switzerland...just long enough to high-tail it to England. FA Jones left Boston for Schaffhausen because Swiss production was cheap and primitive. Rolex became Swiss for tax purposes. The Swiss watch industry of the '20s was akin to the Japanese watch industry of the '60s.
Pocket watches were obsolete by the time the Swiss watch industry was in ascendancy and thin, light watches were vogue. The bulk of full-enamel dials did not fit into the physical or financial packaging of the Swiss, who were busy selling 'luxury imports' to markets unclogging the better part of a decade of deprivation. Thus 'engraved enamel' dials - a light dusting of white base and then a pad-printed contrasting text and indicator layer, oven fired and unground. Pocket watch dials are mirror-flat because the pad-printed text was then surrounded by contrasting enamel, fired and ground while mid-century enamel watch dials are not because of the thickness and expense.
ON RESTORATION
Restoration of 'engraved enamel' is not something I'd want to attempt as you need to heat the dial past cherry red and into a dull burnt orange. Refurbishment of 'vitreous enamel' generally involves careful cleaning to minimize the appearance of cracks as the indicators are fully protected.
'Vitreous enamel' being glass, it stands up to more cleaning than paint. Imperfections can be ground away, but it is a grinding process and much like case polishing in that edges are softened. If those edges are what makes the word 'PATEK PHILIPPE' you may well end up with 'IHTLK IHLIHHL.'
ON CHEMISTRY AND CRAFT
Incidentally, silver is used for blanks because chemistry gets gnarly at 1400C and silver interacts with a lot less than any other material you can apply vitreous enamel to. Gold is used for the same reason gold is always used - it impresses the customer. Most craft enamel these days is opaque because it can be applied to copper. Copper is highly reactive and as a result, clear enamel changes color in chaotic and unpredictable ways.
The 'engraving' is also usually 'etching.' Photoresist applied to the metal prior to submerging in a chemical bath for minutes or hours will create intricate patterns without any particular craft. This is how circuitboards have been made for generations, incidentally, and can be done with no specialized equipment beyond a Xerox machine.
Every wild swoopy pottery color you've ever seen at the craft fair is due to the chaotic interaction of chemicals in silica at high temperature. American enamelists tend to favor the chaos because they buy Thompson which is EPA approved. Japanese enamelists tend to favor the purity because a handful of families still produce traditional enamel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-ZA-ShWR1Q). Emaux Soyer in France splits the difference.
Almost every 'fine enamel' dial on a luxury watch was painted by one lady, Anita Porchet. These watches tend to be bulkier because depth of color requires depth of enamel. An enamel dial watch needs a longer cannon pinion and center wheel staff than a painted dial.
Great comment here. I would just ask why it is that it is so hard to find a reasonably detailed and accurate description of how Patek "engraved enamel" dials are made. If the enamel is vitreous, what about the rest of the dial? What was the process? Did the dial maker engrave the blank, then fill the engravings with vitreous enamel, then fire the dial, then apply some sort of other surrounding white enamel medium? Were there "engraved enamel" dials where the enamel (vitreous? I don't think there were thermosetting resins in the 1940s but maybe I'm wrong?) was printed into the engraved hollows on the dial, and the dial fired, and then some sort of lacquer applied to seal the non enamel portions of the dial and prevent corrosion/oxidation? Why do some "engraved enamel" dials appear to show oxidation on the dial? What "cleaning processes" could possibly lead to destroying vitreous enamel dial markers, if in fact they were vitreous enamel at all? Someone out there, someone knows, as they used to say on the X Files, or maybe not 😂
it's a good point. the best i've seen is in dr. helmut crott's 'the dial,' and in eric tortella's materials (I've also been to his classes). I believe they both had some level of access to Stern Freres' archives years ago and were able to piece together this process, but it's certainly not comprehensive enough to answer some of the questions like above, or that collectors have nowadays. this is also what makes it frustrating, fun, and challenging all at the same time.
I can only hypothesize as to the paucity of construction details, among other things. Here's some stabs in the dark.
1) American watchmaking was integrative, Swiss watchmaking is (and always has been) piecemeal. A Waltham or an Elgin was made entirely in-house, the end product being a movement, dial and hands intended for enclosure by a jeweler. Switzerland was a bunch of villages where this family made hands, that family made dials, that family made balance springs, etc. Even the brands known for vertical integration farm out a lot of stuff - nobody works on Rolex but Rolex but if you'd like to meet the jeweler who does their rainbow pave bezels I can introduce you, for example. Ultimately the company selling you the watch doesn't necessarily *know* how the dial was constructed, they buy them and use them.
2) vitreous enamel is tough - think Le Creuset - but pad-printed markings on vitreous enamel is not. think "paint on Le Creuset." If you think it's glass, but it's actually paint, you won't know you've made a mistake during restoration until it's too late.
3) glass chemistry is not static, it just appears to be over a short time window. Glass made prior to 1940 often included arsenic, which yellows over decades of sun exposure, for example.
All good points (especially in re: specialist suppliers not necessarily sharing trade secrets with clients). So what's the upshot for collectors trying to evaluate a vintage "engraved enamel" dial? It seems to me that we only have the most general idea how these dials were produced and what the term actually means – and certainly, not great odds on doing restoration work that duplicates original manufacturing processes.
Awww c'mon that's so disappointing – I was hoping you knew the so-called engraved enamel dial making process in granular detail and would if sufficiently prodded, spill the beans 😂
My collecting rules. 1. Never pay more than the list price so that I can wear any watch without treating it like an investment. 2. Focus on independents, ideally something iconic or central to their story. 3. Collect widely across brands rather than deeply within a brand. (Others do the opposite and I learn a lot following their scholarship.) 4. Buy “snack” watches while saving up for larger grail pieces. This allows me to buy only what I can afford with cash on hand. 5. Ordering a watch that you have to wait months for minimizes the urge to buy more grail pieces. This saves me money in the long run while I enjoy the anticipation. 6. Pay attention to my dreams. If a watch keeps coming to me from my subconscious, that probably means I want it. 7. Everyone has a story about how they collect, so listen to them with curiosity (and without judgement).
My one watch rule is the same as almost every blogger and commenter, with a slight twist: buy what you’ll wear.
Have had pleasure of multiple APs including 15202, 15300 etc. and also multiple Daytonas and other “haute” watches and independents. But slowly, I’ve moved “down market” and the watches I wear most, Speedmasters, neo vintage IWC or Sinn, etc, usually with a twist (like a Moonphase 103), I wear regularly, including hiking, biking, swimming and living with.
Hi Tony, as you typically ask for topics of interest, I would like to take the opportunity: Vintage Swatch collecting. I remember you once did 1-2 reels on a vintage Chrono some time back and I would love to learn more about Vintage Swatch collecting, esp. famous models / lines, where to find (I just stumbled across NOS Black Friday and Flash Arrow models in original packaging for a really good price, but only accidentally) and what to read (There are a lot of books out there, any recommendations on both nice reads as well as full coverage of the entire catalogue?). Any plans for the future to cover this space? Thank you!
That’s a good one, I could do more on old Swatches. Btw I have a rule, whenever I see NOS original chronos, of which the Black Friday and flash arrow are, I buy !
My one big rule is never buy a watch within 24 hours of discovering it. It’s easy to get 😍 over a newly discovered/released watch, but often that fades. I really take longer. If I am still thinking about it weeks later, I take it seriously. If it’s not something I can immediately buy due to price, it goes on a list that does tend to shift over time. Sometimes I will fall in and out of love with a watch that ends up on my list, for various reasons.
What is the reference number to that vacheron? Might be the best vintage VC I’ve ever seen. Although with my luck, it’s probably a 5-figure watch I’ll inevitably find out I can’t afford
Really enjoyed the enamel article - thank you. I hadn’t really appreciated what it was about those old PP dials that resonated so much but your article helped me in my own understanding of why they look so good.
One rule I’m still learning is to give yourself financial (and frankly emotional) space to make mistakes. You’re going to get something that doesn’t end up fitting in your collection or has bad parts, or that you just dont love over time. Make sure you can afford to shift, change, and grow.
finally learnt more about the PP enamel engraving technique from your explainer that is easy for me to understand - thanks Tony! looking forward to your future more in-depth post on perhaps some guidelines from the seasoned collectors/restoration experts - what exactly is the fine line between preservation and restoration? can this line ever be made clearer and explicit so that collectors have a reference point to know how far/how little to proceed with sympathetic restoration?
I know this may not qualify as a rule of collecting …but all my “collectibles” are collaborations. Hodinkee + Nomos, Hodinkee + Hermes, Hodinkee + IWC, etc…but also Dennison + Collectibiity . There is always room in my collection for Rolex but most of my collection is some type of collab. I love the idea of something different with a numeric number that are X amount in the world.
Re the Sotheby’s piece, there’s a reference to “billionaire watchmaker Patrick Drahi”. I didn’t see anything about this mercurial individual being a watchmaker. He’s a telecom guy who built his business on mountains of debt. The article has only one reference to watches.
ON ENAMEL
What we now call 'vitreous enamel' or 'jewelry enamel' or 'torch fired enamel' is what used to be called 'enamel', literally back to the Mycenaeans. It's fused glass with impurities, full stop. Those impurities tend to be toxic, particularly if they are translucent - Japanese enamel is favored by jewelry enamelists because it has all the delicious cadmium, lead, manganese, etc that fuse into the lovely colors favored by Art Nouveau.
What we now call 'soft enamel' is also called 'paint.' Nobody protected enamel as a trade or process so everyone has been free to call any process or coating 'enamel' for 100+ years.
What we now call 'hard enamel' can also be called 'nail gelcoat.' It's epoxy, UV-cured or otherwise, that is substantially more durable than 'soft enamel' and nowadays, more durable than 'vitreous enamel.' It can also be called 'ceramic' or 'nano-ceramic' depending on what's in the resin and how these processes are sold. Invacon Hyceram is polymer goo cured in an autoclave that ends up as a lot of chapter rings and luminous indicators in the watchmaking industry. It can be ground, polished, and even machined. It imitates colors and lusters very similar to expensive fingernail polish.
ON ENAMEL DIALS
'Vitreous enamel' was used extensively for pocket watches. It is, simply put, melted sand and as such, adds thickness and bulk to the dial - because the expansion coefficient of glass is different than silver/brass etc it is necessary to add a coat on the back for every three or four coats on the front or else the dial cups and cracks. This is an expensive process for expensive product, and something people forget is that the Swiss didn't make expensive product until the American watch industry subsumed itself in military chronometers, instruments and timers. Breguet fled The Terror for Switzerland...just long enough to high-tail it to England. FA Jones left Boston for Schaffhausen because Swiss production was cheap and primitive. Rolex became Swiss for tax purposes. The Swiss watch industry of the '20s was akin to the Japanese watch industry of the '60s.
Pocket watches were obsolete by the time the Swiss watch industry was in ascendancy and thin, light watches were vogue. The bulk of full-enamel dials did not fit into the physical or financial packaging of the Swiss, who were busy selling 'luxury imports' to markets unclogging the better part of a decade of deprivation. Thus 'engraved enamel' dials - a light dusting of white base and then a pad-printed contrasting text and indicator layer, oven fired and unground. Pocket watch dials are mirror-flat because the pad-printed text was then surrounded by contrasting enamel, fired and ground while mid-century enamel watch dials are not because of the thickness and expense.
ON RESTORATION
Restoration of 'engraved enamel' is not something I'd want to attempt as you need to heat the dial past cherry red and into a dull burnt orange. Refurbishment of 'vitreous enamel' generally involves careful cleaning to minimize the appearance of cracks as the indicators are fully protected.
'Vitreous enamel' being glass, it stands up to more cleaning than paint. Imperfections can be ground away, but it is a grinding process and much like case polishing in that edges are softened. If those edges are what makes the word 'PATEK PHILIPPE' you may well end up with 'IHTLK IHLIHHL.'
ON CHEMISTRY AND CRAFT
Incidentally, silver is used for blanks because chemistry gets gnarly at 1400C and silver interacts with a lot less than any other material you can apply vitreous enamel to. Gold is used for the same reason gold is always used - it impresses the customer. Most craft enamel these days is opaque because it can be applied to copper. Copper is highly reactive and as a result, clear enamel changes color in chaotic and unpredictable ways.
The 'engraving' is also usually 'etching.' Photoresist applied to the metal prior to submerging in a chemical bath for minutes or hours will create intricate patterns without any particular craft. This is how circuitboards have been made for generations, incidentally, and can be done with no specialized equipment beyond a Xerox machine.
Every wild swoopy pottery color you've ever seen at the craft fair is due to the chaotic interaction of chemicals in silica at high temperature. American enamelists tend to favor the chaos because they buy Thompson which is EPA approved. Japanese enamelists tend to favor the purity because a handful of families still produce traditional enamel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-ZA-ShWR1Q). Emaux Soyer in France splits the difference.
Almost every 'fine enamel' dial on a luxury watch was painted by one lady, Anita Porchet. These watches tend to be bulkier because depth of color requires depth of enamel. An enamel dial watch needs a longer cannon pinion and center wheel staff than a painted dial.
Great comment here. I would just ask why it is that it is so hard to find a reasonably detailed and accurate description of how Patek "engraved enamel" dials are made. If the enamel is vitreous, what about the rest of the dial? What was the process? Did the dial maker engrave the blank, then fill the engravings with vitreous enamel, then fire the dial, then apply some sort of other surrounding white enamel medium? Were there "engraved enamel" dials where the enamel (vitreous? I don't think there were thermosetting resins in the 1940s but maybe I'm wrong?) was printed into the engraved hollows on the dial, and the dial fired, and then some sort of lacquer applied to seal the non enamel portions of the dial and prevent corrosion/oxidation? Why do some "engraved enamel" dials appear to show oxidation on the dial? What "cleaning processes" could possibly lead to destroying vitreous enamel dial markers, if in fact they were vitreous enamel at all? Someone out there, someone knows, as they used to say on the X Files, or maybe not 😂
it's a good point. the best i've seen is in dr. helmut crott's 'the dial,' and in eric tortella's materials (I've also been to his classes). I believe they both had some level of access to Stern Freres' archives years ago and were able to piece together this process, but it's certainly not comprehensive enough to answer some of the questions like above, or that collectors have nowadays. this is also what makes it frustrating, fun, and challenging all at the same time.
I can only hypothesize as to the paucity of construction details, among other things. Here's some stabs in the dark.
1) American watchmaking was integrative, Swiss watchmaking is (and always has been) piecemeal. A Waltham or an Elgin was made entirely in-house, the end product being a movement, dial and hands intended for enclosure by a jeweler. Switzerland was a bunch of villages where this family made hands, that family made dials, that family made balance springs, etc. Even the brands known for vertical integration farm out a lot of stuff - nobody works on Rolex but Rolex but if you'd like to meet the jeweler who does their rainbow pave bezels I can introduce you, for example. Ultimately the company selling you the watch doesn't necessarily *know* how the dial was constructed, they buy them and use them.
2) vitreous enamel is tough - think Le Creuset - but pad-printed markings on vitreous enamel is not. think "paint on Le Creuset." If you think it's glass, but it's actually paint, you won't know you've made a mistake during restoration until it's too late.
3) glass chemistry is not static, it just appears to be over a short time window. Glass made prior to 1940 often included arsenic, which yellows over decades of sun exposure, for example.
All good points (especially in re: specialist suppliers not necessarily sharing trade secrets with clients). So what's the upshot for collectors trying to evaluate a vintage "engraved enamel" dial? It seems to me that we only have the most general idea how these dials were produced and what the term actually means – and certainly, not great odds on doing restoration work that duplicates original manufacturing processes.
I leave that to the expertise of collectors. ;-)
Awww c'mon that's so disappointing – I was hoping you knew the so-called engraved enamel dial making process in granular detail and would if sufficiently prodded, spill the beans 😂
I'm poor d00d my "collection" is mostly "mid-century lady's watches other watchmakers aren't at all interested in even breaking for science"
My collecting rules. 1. Never pay more than the list price so that I can wear any watch without treating it like an investment. 2. Focus on independents, ideally something iconic or central to their story. 3. Collect widely across brands rather than deeply within a brand. (Others do the opposite and I learn a lot following their scholarship.) 4. Buy “snack” watches while saving up for larger grail pieces. This allows me to buy only what I can afford with cash on hand. 5. Ordering a watch that you have to wait months for minimizes the urge to buy more grail pieces. This saves me money in the long run while I enjoy the anticipation. 6. Pay attention to my dreams. If a watch keeps coming to me from my subconscious, that probably means I want it. 7. Everyone has a story about how they collect, so listen to them with curiosity (and without judgement).
Rule 1: A small flaw, noticed right away, that you try to ignore will eventually grow and overshadow every other aspect of the watch
Rule 2: Put it on your wrist. Photos don't mean jack without trying it on. See if it sings to you.
Rule 3: In person experiences are worth much more than online "experiences"
Rule 4: Rules are meant to be broken
A formulation of all these will def be in the rules, especially 4 ;)
My one watch rule is the same as almost every blogger and commenter, with a slight twist: buy what you’ll wear.
Have had pleasure of multiple APs including 15202, 15300 etc. and also multiple Daytonas and other “haute” watches and independents. But slowly, I’ve moved “down market” and the watches I wear most, Speedmasters, neo vintage IWC or Sinn, etc, usually with a twist (like a Moonphase 103), I wear regularly, including hiking, biking, swimming and living with.
Hi Tony, as you typically ask for topics of interest, I would like to take the opportunity: Vintage Swatch collecting. I remember you once did 1-2 reels on a vintage Chrono some time back and I would love to learn more about Vintage Swatch collecting, esp. famous models / lines, where to find (I just stumbled across NOS Black Friday and Flash Arrow models in original packaging for a really good price, but only accidentally) and what to read (There are a lot of books out there, any recommendations on both nice reads as well as full coverage of the entire catalogue?). Any plans for the future to cover this space? Thank you!
That’s a good one, I could do more on old Swatches. Btw I have a rule, whenever I see NOS original chronos, of which the Black Friday and flash arrow are, I buy !
Good rule, very practical! Re vintage swatch coverage, would clearly look forward to some content in the future!
My one big rule is never buy a watch within 24 hours of discovering it. It’s easy to get 😍 over a newly discovered/released watch, but often that fades. I really take longer. If I am still thinking about it weeks later, I take it seriously. If it’s not something I can immediately buy due to price, it goes on a list that does tend to shift over time. Sometimes I will fall in and out of love with a watch that ends up on my list, for various reasons.
100% - i have the same rule
What is the reference number to that vacheron? Might be the best vintage VC I’ve ever seen. Although with my luck, it’s probably a 5-figure watch I’ll inevitably find out I can’t afford
4301 I think…one of the best I’ve ever seen to, and it does have a price to match 😅
I look for the following:
1. Historically important brand and/or model
2. Always pay cash.
3. Interesting movement
Really enjoyed the enamel article - thank you. I hadn’t really appreciated what it was about those old PP dials that resonated so much but your article helped me in my own understanding of why they look so good.
glad to hear 🙏
One rule I’m still learning is to give yourself financial (and frankly emotional) space to make mistakes. You’re going to get something that doesn’t end up fitting in your collection or has bad parts, or that you just dont love over time. Make sure you can afford to shift, change, and grow.
finally learnt more about the PP enamel engraving technique from your explainer that is easy for me to understand - thanks Tony! looking forward to your future more in-depth post on perhaps some guidelines from the seasoned collectors/restoration experts - what exactly is the fine line between preservation and restoration? can this line ever be made clearer and explicit so that collectors have a reference point to know how far/how little to proceed with sympathetic restoration?
Great article on something often referenced but not often explained with detail/examples
I know this may not qualify as a rule of collecting …but all my “collectibles” are collaborations. Hodinkee + Nomos, Hodinkee + Hermes, Hodinkee + IWC, etc…but also Dennison + Collectibiity . There is always room in my collection for Rolex but most of my collection is some type of collab. I love the idea of something different with a numeric number that are X amount in the world.
Great article Tony! Was always curious on these dials and restoration issues
Do the Seiko Presage enameled watches count? Or are they something else? Just curious b/c they pop up frequently.
those full enamel dials have a different, but similar baking process. A Collected Man did a good overview of enamel dials here a few years back: https://www.acollectedman.com/blogs/journal/the-art-of-enamel-dials
Re the Sotheby’s piece, there’s a reference to “billionaire watchmaker Patrick Drahi”. I didn’t see anything about this mercurial individual being a watchmaker. He’s a telecom guy who built his business on mountains of debt. The article has only one reference to watches.
ha, thanks - fixed.