20200M-001

On the "Roof of the World” This unique piece in Grand Feu cloisonné enamel pays tribute to the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953 and illustrates the power of the world’s highest mountain peak to fire our imaginations. The outlines of the mountains, the alpinists and the compass rose called for about 12.47 m of gold wire (~18.56 g). The enameller then injected life into this high-altitude scene buffeted by the snow, working with a palette of transparent, semi-transparent and opaque enamels in 21 colors. A further 7 colors of miniature painting on enamel enabled him to reproduce the mass and relief of the mountain range, the trace of the ascent and the snowflakes falling on the summits. Silver leaf embedded beneath translucent enamel according to the technique of paillonné enameling accentuates the striking realism of this expedition caught in the cold of the Himalayas; as do the figures of the alpinists, each one a hand-finished jewelry applied ornament seen climbing the wall of ice surrounding the dial. Each enameled plate required 14 firings at a temperature of approximately 770°C. An hour circle endowed with the famous Clous de Paris or hobnail pattern emblematic of the Manufacture’s style, presents applied Arabic numerals in blue lacquer and leaf-shaped hands with rhodium plating and a blue lacquer center. It frames a dial center in cloisonné enamel reproducing a bird’s eye view of the topography of the Everest summit. The clock pillars are embellished with a coiled motif recalling the mountain climber’s ropes. This clock is powered by a 17’’’ PEND mechanical movement rewound by an electric motor.