NEWS: All fired up by the Blancpain Villeret Grand Feu

Felix Scholz

One of the most elegant and understated watches we saw at this years Baselworld fair was the Blancpain Villeret Grand Feu, the latest from the masters of restrained classicism. On paper (or retina display as the case may be) this is a deceptively simple three-handed watch with a discreet date at three.  But what’s really impressive about this watch is the dial. You need to see it in all its glossy glimmering glory to understand how special it is.

The clue is in the watches name –  ‘Grand Feu’ is French for ‘Great fire’ and refers to a delicate and painstaking enamelling process, where the dial of the watch if coated with layers of enamel (including the hand painted numerals) and with each layer the dial is fired at over 1000 degrees Celsius. After each firing the dial is refinished and retouched until perfect.

The process is risky and intuitive for the master enamelists: too long in the oven and the dial will be ruined, and not long enough and the dial will lack the uncannily crisp and clear finish that characterise a Grand Feu enamel dials.

The dial on this particular Blancpain offers some other challenges for the enamelist, due to the beveled date aperture and the overall cambered shape of the dial. But, Blancpain’s pain – watch lovers gain! The watch is a beautiful object to behold, light shimmers over the crisp off-white dial, and imbues the watch with an elegance mixed with something approaching magic. Oh, and it has stamina to pit it against the best too, an 8 day power reserve in-house movement. That’s not too shabby either, especially considering the slim case profile.

Find out more about the Villeret Grand Feu at Blancpain.