The creation took a 12 months to finish. Hand-engraved in strong 18k purple gold, every dragon takes over 30 hours to finish and each one is exclusive. The opposite spotlight is the big 12mm moon, which is a murals. It’s an ideal sphere, with one half in purple gold and the opposite in onyx or pietersite. It’s extraordinarily difficult to assemble the moon – have a look at the purple gold’s good mirror polish and the seamless line the place the valuable metallic and stone meet. Then there’s its good weight, which ensures the moonphase operate works completely. For this, a exact quantity of gold must be hollowed out. The moon is then affixed to the motion through the highest and backside and revolves on its axis. Beneath the off-centre white opal dial is Tremendous-LumiNova and when it glows, it actually resembles a full moon.
Why was pietersite chosen for the second variant?
That was my alternative. I assumed the dragon would appear like it’s hovering within the sky towards the blue of the stone. And because it’s a pure stone, every dial is exclusive. I just like the onyx too because the deep black offers the timepiece an attractive depth that contrasts towards the gold. Shoppers may request for a bespoke piece with a unique stone and the method takes about three or 4 months.
Are the artisans, such because the engraver and gem-cutters, in-house craftsmen from Arnold & Son?
No, they’re not. There are solely 5 – 6 high engravers in Switzerland and we labored with one in all them, whose manufacturing unit is simply 10 minutes from La Chaux-de-Fonds. As for the dial maker, we collaborated with a gaggle of three brothers, who’re thought-about to be one of the best on the planet and have labored with among the greatest watch manufacturers. One in every of them is the technical man, who works with the machines, whereas one other is a gemologist, who travels the world to supply for stones. He had gone to Australia to personally choose the white opal that you just see on the dial right here.
We get pleasure from collaborating with each other as a result of among the tasks are world premieres, like our new watch with an amber dial that was launched at Dubai Watch Week earlier this 12 months. It took this gem-cutting specialist six months to correctly reduce the amber as a result of it stored shattering. We’re the primary manufacture to supply such a dial and we’ve a patent for it.