Patek Philippe
Reference 5076 ‘Fishes’
Enamel painting has roots dating back to 14th century
Byzantium. While a wide variety of enameling
techniques exist, cloisonné remains a favorite among
watchmakers and collectors due to the stringent level
of care and watchmaking know-how it takes to create
a miniature masterpiece.
The word Cloisonné derives from the French word
cloister, meaning ‘to partition’. Cloisonné is used in
reference to the cloisons, or the gold wires that are used
to separate the sections of enamel. To bring an enamel
painting to life, the cloisons are painstakingly molded,
hammered and set to the shape of the artisan’s desire.
This process is extremely difficult because gold wire is
very soft and requires delicate handling. The cloisons
are then filled with enamel paste and subsequently
placed in a kiln.
The present set of cloisonné enamel watches, reference
Ref. 5076 with rectangle case, are dedicated to salt water
tropical fish. In accordance with Patek Philippe’s usual
practice, the limited edition set comes with four watches,
with each watch depicting two species of fish.
All Patek Philippe cloisonné enamel watches use gold
as the base of the enamel, and these four watches are
no exception. Enamelers at Patek Philippe use their
own secret composition to create the glaze, and paint
with brushes as thin as human hair. Each piece is fired
in the kiln at least 6 or 7 times to build nuance and color
contrast between the cloisters.
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