Piaget recently unveiled the Altiplano Micro-Mosaic, an ultra-thin watch with a dial featuring a mosaic rose, comprised of hundreds of tiny pieces of tinted glass.

Mosaic is a decorative technique many centuries old, and it has recently found favour in watchmaking. Piaget uses the technique to form a delicate rose for the dial of its Altiplano Micro-Mosaic. The process beings with pieces of glass in varying colours being broken up. These smaller pieces are then melted together to form a piece in the desired shade.

Bits of glass are broken up…

And then heated…

And fused…

To create glass of the perfect colour.

The resulting glass is then heated and stretched repeatedly, until it is exceptionally fine and thin.

It is then heated…

And stretched…

And stretched some more…

To create the strips for the mosaic tesserae.

Tiny pieces of this glass are then broken off to be used as tesserae in the mosaic. Each piece of glass is selected and positioned by hand, and secured with a tiny bit of cement. The shades have to be carefully chosen, in order for the final result to look as desired.

The glass is selected according to colour to suit the motif…

And then applied piece by piece.

The Altiplano Micro-Mosaic is a limited edition of eight pieces. The 38 mm white gold case is set with 78 diamonds of 0.7 carats. Inside is the ultra-thin 430P automatic movement. In Singapore the retail price is S$122,750, including 7% tax, which is equivalent to about US$99,600. – SJX

To celebrate 300 years of the École Française de Danse, Vacheron Constantin has released a trio of unique watches, the Métiers d’Art Hommage à l’Art de la Danse. Each depicts an Edgar Degas painting of dancers using the grisaille enamel technique.

For the 300th anniversary of the École Française de Danse (which means “French Dance Academy”), Vacheron Constantin has created three unique timepieces. Each has a grisaille enamel dial, with a motif inspired by a particular work by Edgar Degas.

Set against a translucent brown base, instead of the typical black for grisaille enamel, the dancers are executed in Limoges white enamel. The grisaille enamelling techniques tell calls for lines and shades are then etched with needles and even cactus thorns.

The case is a 40 mm white gold case with a hinged, officer case back which opens to reveal the the in-house and Geneva Seal certified cal. 2460 SC inside. 

Each of these three is a unique piece, and can be ordered only from Vacheron Constantin boutiques. The retail price will be about EUR100,000 before tax for the set.

– SJX

The dance class

The rehearsal

Two dancers on stage

From September 25 to 28, 2013, Watches&Wonders will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. This will be a scaled down version of SIHH, with most of the same brands exhibiting.

Organised by the Exhibitor Committee of the SIHH, Watches&Wonders will be the first exhibition of its kind in Asia. Each of the 13 exhibiting brands will present the newest timepieces first unveiled at SIHH in Geneva. Alongside the latest products, Watches&Wonders will also be the latest stop for The Mastery of Time, an exhibition of 100 historical objects and timepieces which trace mankind’s history of timekeeping. This is an invitation only event, so those interested in attend should enquire through brand boutiques or authorised retailers for the brands participating in the exhibition. The following brands will participate in Watches&Wonders: