Watch Essentials

The Ultimate Guide to Enamel in Watchmaking

Discover the art of enamel, one of the oldest watch dial techniques, dating back to at least 1300 BCE.

By 

Cait Bazemore

 |  July 1, 2025

Enamel is one of the oldest art forms in the world. In this métier d’art, artisans apply powdered glass (enamel) to a base, typically metal, and fire it at a high temperature to create a colorful, glossy, durable surface. Historians trace its origins back thousands of years to Greek and Roman civilizations, when artisans commonly used it to decorate jewelry and religious artifacts. One of the earliest examples of enamel work dates to the 13th century BCE — a collection of Mycenaean rings that archaeologists uncovered from a tomb in Cyprus. 

A primary issue with these early applications of enamel was the challenge of melting the powdered glass while keeping the metal base it was on intact. However, by the last millennium BCE, the ancient Celts began to refine the technique, and over the next several thousand years, the art form grew in popularity, thanks to the bold color it adds to designs at a lower cost than gemstones. Still, it would be much longer before enamel would be applied in horology — clockmaking and watchmaking — the early modern period of the 17^th century, to be exact. 

Here, we’ll dig into the evolution of eight of the most prevalent forms of enamel throughout history. You can find more examples of these techniques in our roundup of beautiful enamel watch dials.

Grand Feu

Grand Feu, or vitreous, enamel is enamel in its purest form. At the most basic level, this is a type of glass fused to metal. The compound of enamel comes from silica mixed with other compounds to lower its melting point to around 800°C (approximately 1,470°F). Once it is liquified to a colorless, crystal-like substance, other materials can be added to give it color. This mixture takes roughly 14 hours to fuse in a kiln, a special type of oven, after which time it cools on a flat piece of cast iron for transparent enamel or in a cast-iron mold for opaque enamel. 

After the mixture solidifies, the artisan grounds this glass-like material into a powder and combines it with water to form a fine paste that artisans can paint onto a metal surface. After they apply a single layer, the craftsman returns the object to the kiln at a melting-point temperature, where it melts and flows into a smooth consistency that bonds with the metal. When it has cooled, the artisan can add additional layers to achieve more depth of color. 

Grand Feu was the first type of enamel that artisans applied to watch dials — typically in white, cream, or occasionally black with contrasting black or white hour markers — and even today, it continues to be one of the most popular enamel techniques. H. Moser & Cie. is just one example of a brand that focuses on perfecting the simplicity of Grand Feu enamel in its fumé dials. 

Cloisonné

Cloisonné is one of the earliest evolutions of enamel. Artisans prepare a metal base using a special procedure before applying the enamel. Essentially, they mold thin metal wires to create a design, followed by heating and fusing them to a solid metal base. After that, they apply enamel to each of the compartments (or cloisons, in French). Brands such as Rolex and Patek Philippe are famous for their cloisonné dials, with Rolex’s Ref. 6100 Caravelle dial, crafted by the artist Marguerite Koch, being one of the most notable examples. 

Champlevé

Champlevé enamel, French for “raised field,” refers to another enamel technique similar to cloisonné. However, instead of raised sections to hold enamel, artisans create champlevé enamel by carving into the metal base. The method produces a similar set of reservoirs for the enamel and creates elaborate designs. On one hand, champlevé allows for much more detail and complexity than cloisonné, but, on the other, it can lack definition from a distance. Champlevé is a popular technique among many maisons, including Hermès, particularly in models depicting the designs of the iconic French brand’s trademark scarves, as well as Krayon’s Anywhere Arborea watch inspired by the Henri Rousseau painting The Virgin Forest at Sunset (1910).

Plique-à-Jour

Meaning “letting in daylight,” plique-à-jour is a less common yet more complex variation on cloisonné, resulting in a stained-glass effect. To achieve this, artisans construct a metal frame in which they pierce or cut the metal to create small open areas. Next, they lay the frame on a backing of copper foil or mica and fill the sections of the frame with transparent enamel. Then, after firing, they remove the backing to reveal the stained-glass-looking enamel. Models from Jaquet Droz’s Petite Heure Minute Smalta Clara to Louis Vuitton’s Voyager Flying Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève have used plique-à-jour enameling to create that recognizable translucent effect. 

Read More: A Guide to Chiming Watches: Minute Repeaters and More, Everything You Need to Know About Tourbillon Watches

Flinqué

Another common style that modifies the metal base to which an artisan applies the enamel is Flinqué. However, unlike cloisonné and champlevé, flinqué uses a single color of transparent enamel. Here, the metal base first undergoes guilloché engraving using traditional engine turning, CNC machinery, or hard stamping. Then, an artisan applies a single color of transparent enamel across the engraved surface. It’s essential to use transparent enamel instead of opaque enamel to reveal the beauty of the guilloché beneath. That said, the color of the metal base (copper, gold, silver, or bronze) will show through the transparent enamel and can affect the final color and appearance of the design. Many brands have employed this method over the years — including Ulysse Nardin, thanks to its acquisition of Donze Cadrans, as well as Czapek, with its Quai des Bergues collection, dedicated to flinqué enamel. 

Read More: The Most Beautiful Guilloché Watches

Paillonnée

Now it’s time to begin exploring the less common enamel techniques, such as paillonnée. However, as someone who has had three different apprenticeships in learning the art of enamel, I must admit this one is my favorite métier d’art in watchmaking. Paillonnée is a layering technique — first, a craftsman paints a layer of opaque or translucent enamel onto a metal base. Next, the artisan carefully applies a piece or pieces of metal foil in a design of their choice. Lastly, they cover the metal foil design in a layer of translucent enamel.

Legendary artist Anita Porchet for Jaquet Droz created one of the most famous paillonnée enamel designs in 2004: the Grande Seconde Paillonnée. This marked the maison’s first paillonnée design and was later followed by the Fleur de Lys Grande Seconde Paillonnée and Fleur de Vie Petite Heure Minute Paillonnée in 2020. 

Grisaille

Like paillonnée, grisaille is a more uncommon form of enamel, at least in modern times. It’s one of several types of miniature painting — one that strictly adheres to a monochromatic color scheme. To achieve this, artisans work from dark to light, with the base being the darkest shade of the chosen color, then work in layers to create an image with lighter shades. Overall, the technique really emphasizes light and shadow within a scene. Many regard Louis Vuitton for its use of grisaille enamel, from a unique piece for the Only Watch charity auction to its range of automata. 

Contre-Jour 

Contre-jour is somewhat similar to grisaille enamel. In fact, another name for contre-jour enamel is Blanc de Limoges, a style of grisaille enameling that uses only black, white, and shades of gray. The vintage technique of contre-jour employs just black and white (black for the background and white for the miniature painting). Prolific artist Dominique Barron notably used the contre-jour style in her work on the Van Cleef & Arpels Poetic Complications line. In addition, Vacheron Constantin has famously used Blanc de Limoges (named for the city of Limoges, France) in its dials over the years. 

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