While there’s often a large net cast over the art of enamel, the craft is actually quite nuanced. Enamel can take many forms outside classic grand feu, from cloisonne to champleve, plique-a-jour, flinque, paillonnee, grisaille, and contre-jour. However, even within traditional grand feu enamel work, there can be variations depending on the surface the enamel is applied to and the type of enamel (or enamels) used – both opaque and transparent.
O&HoraPictor is one of a small handful of brands dedicated to the artistic craft of enameling. Within its catalog, the brand is no stranger to spanning beyond grand feu and into other enamel applications. We see this in O&HoraPictor’s latest limited edition release, the Duet.
Aptly named “Duet,” the model showcases two enamel hues independently on a single dial with the primary color at the center, anchoring the handset, and the other more subtly framing it around the periphery. The metaphor continues further in two of the five editions – Submarine Canyon and Rhapsody – with the interplay between the two key components of the dial: the metal base where the enamel is applied and the enamel itself. Here, the foundation is laid with an engraved silver plate, creating a canvas with texture and depth to bring out the brilliance of the enamel shades. Tedious handwork begins here, requiring thousands of engravings to achieve the desired effect. Then comes the meticulous application of the enamel pigments.
The enameling process starts by preparing the material through three to four hours of grinding and cleaning to achieve a pure consistency. Using a mortar and pestle, the enamel is ground by hand into a fine, uniform powder. The powder is then washed repeatedly to remove impurities and ensure color clarity during firing. Next, the metal base comes into play. Here, adding a layer of enamel in uniform thickness is essential, as variations can lead to bubbles and other imperfections during firing, and typically around eight firings are required to achieve the desired effect. After firing, each enamel dial is polished to a consistent, level surface giving a smooth, mirror-like finish. Then, dial markings are printed onto the enamel surface.
The result of many painstaking hours of patience and hand-done craftsmanship is a design that plays beautifully with the light while creating visual interest and contrast between light and shadow. The Duet is offered in five different permutations of pigments: Bee, combining yellow and brown; Olive, pairing two shades of green, lime and sage; and Lagoon, framing mint with turquoise alongside two particularly special colorways, Submarine Canyon and Rhapsody.
For the Submarine Canyon edition, the choice of a blue color palette seems like a fitting reflection of the gradient shades that exist naturally in the sea as you descend from the sunlight surface to greater depths. The color blue is probably the most widely used hue in watchmaking, and yet the Duet Submarine Canyon provides a fresh take on the shade thanks to the combination of techniques on display. Rhapsody is its foil with one of the boldest shades in watchmaking, red, working in contrast with blue. 
Beating at the heart of the model is the manually wound SW200-2M Power+, which delivers a significant improvement in the power reserve over other models in O&HoraPictor’s catalog – 65 hours to be exact. In addition, the Duet is available to suit all wrist sizes and style preferences with the option of either a 36mm, 38mm, or 40mm stainless steel case construction.
The new limited edition Duet is available now with production limited to just 20 pieces in each colorway. The models carry a price tag of just $2,892, which is an incredible value for the handwork required for an enamel piece. For more information, head over directly to O&HoraPictor.
