Louis Erard Excellence Émail Grand Feu II

Louis Erard continues its odyssey at the heart of métiers d’art with Grand Feu enamel. A new interpretation of this exclusive craft already explored in 2021, which returns in a contemporary classic with subtlety. With some touches of red and, for the first time, in a 39 mm case.

Every colour you see on a watch requires processing in a kiln at more than 800°C. This dial has three colours: white for the background, Louis Erard blue indexes, and flashes of red on the XII at 12 o‘clock and on some of the lines of the small seconds at six o'clock. For every kiln process, there are hours of preparation, not to mention the risk of something not going to plan. The artisan's dexterity changes nothing: you cannot play with fire with impunity and, despite an expert touch, the high level of waste is irreducible.

When everything goes well, the result is total. The quality of a Grand Feu enamel dial is unsurpassable. Deposited in small layers of silica, oxides and potassium, the colours are fixed forever, permanently bonded to their metal base. It is an almost alchemical art that goldsmiths were practising 1,500 years ago, when this was the only way to dye metal until the invention of synthetic lacquers, and which traditional watchmaking has kept alive through the centuries.