Enter the Maison's workshops
The art of miniature painting
Miniature painting is a age-old technique which dates back to Antiquity and has made artists famous since the Middle Ages. Just as the painter has his palette, the enameler has colored enamels composed of silica powder, very finely ground pigments and oil. On the watches, the craftsman wearing a binocular applies the color using a fine sable hair brush, gradually creating shapes and gradients of shades.

This technique enlivens the butterflies and flowers of the Lady Arpels Heures Florales watch with vibrant contrasts
The colors are placed one by one, in a very precise order, from the lightest to the most intense tones. Each of them is associated with a specific firing, the temperature and duration of which remain the secret of the master enameler. If the drawing, executed freehand, requires precision, dexterity and a real talent as a painter, each stage of firing requires great attention to detail.

On the Lady Arpels Brise d'Été watch, the craftsman, equipped with a binocular loupe, applies the color to a vallonné enamel flower petal
Discover the miniature painting technique
Métiers d'art enchant the hours






