In this year’s Best of the Best, we continue to honour the brands and people who have continued to create covetable products, even in the midst of a global pandemic. Here, we have Audemars Piguet win the best in metiers d’art
As one of the most in-demand dial artisans in the Swiss watch industry, Anita Porchet is always busy. So when the artisan was enlisted by Audemars Piguet, her work was reserved for one of the watchmaker’s most elite creations, the Grande Sonnerie Carillon Supersonnerie. The new calibre 2956 combines a traditional grande sonnerie – striking the hour, quarter-hour and minutes on demand, as well as the hours and every quarter-hour by default – with the manufacture’s Supersonnerie technology, which equips a wristwatch with the high-volume acoustics of a pocket watch.
While its interior hosts all the auditory fireworks of watchmaking’s most complex function and then some, its striking greenish-blue grand feu enamel dial, created by Porchet, is accented with century-old antique gold spangles. “I found the spangles from the old stocks of enamel ateliers,” she says. “There are many, from centuries past, that have closed little by little over time.” After carefully collecting as many as she could find, the artisan says, it took her two years to acquire the ancient tools and learn the skills required to revive the art of spangling, which dates back to the 18th century.
A veritable audible and visual symphony, each of the five pieces is unique. Three of the dials come with round or linear hand-applied 18-carat-gold spangles arranged in varying formations, while two even more exclusive versions are reserved for clients who wish to have a personalised design by Porchet.
