22000M-001

Charming talkers This unique piece in Grand Feu cloisonné enamel reproduces the multicolored ballet of macaws frolicking in the depths of the Amazonian forest. This exotic enchantment is brought to life by the skilled use of contrasts and the shimmer of precious stones and colored enamels, combined to adorn this very first gem-set table clock produced by the Manufacture. The outlines of the birds, and the intricacies of their plumage and the strelitzia plants and flowers, also known as “birds of paradise,” called for about 20.75 m of gold wire (~39 g). To render the glistening tints of the macaw’s feathers and all the nuances of the vegetation, the enameller worked with a palette of 48 enamel colors, mainly opaque, but with some semi-opaque or transparent, and 4 colors of miniature painting on enamel. Each enameled plate required from 8 to 10 firings at temperatures ranging from 800 to 820 °C. The hour circle, lit by 1,140 diamonds (~13.82 cts) in a splendid example of the snow-setting technique is adorned with 24 baguette-cut applied hour markers comprising 12 black spinels (~1.68 cts), 6 multicolored sapphires (~0.72 ct), 2 tsavorites (~0.24 ct) and 4 topazes (~0.48 ct). It frames a dial center in cloisonné enamel depicting a macaw in mid-air. The clock case is embellished with 225 multicolored sapphires (~24.75 cts), but also 92 tsavorites (~9.27 cts) and 87 topazes (~8.48 cts) conjuring up the colors of the rainbow. And not forgetting the jeweled clock feet, set with a further 570 diamonds (~6.7 cts). This clock is powered by a 17’’’ PEND mechanical movement rewound by an electric motor.