(Re)Introducing Statera

It would seem that once again I have been asleep at the switch! So in fairness, this is not "new" news, but it is for me ; )

Ladies and Gentlemen, Children of All Ages - 

                            Statera!

Courtesy of Statera

One of their taglines is: 

            "Traditional watchmaking
                with a tropical twist"

And that seems a fitting motto! Statera is based in Maringá. And no, that is not a small community in Neuchatel! You would be forgiven for making assumptions based on the high level of finishing that is on display through the "ready to wear" collection, but Satera is proudly (rightfully so) Brazilian. And unlike so many brands that have an administrative office in their "home country", but use the Swiss elves in white label assemblers to produce their watches, the team at Statera is actually making actual watches!

Courtesy of Statera

Statera is notable for many reasons, but it is clear that the creation of enamel dials is a focal point. In their ready to wear they have two families:

The Opaque Collection - 

Bright Ivory - Courtesy of Statera

Royal Blue - Courtesy of Statera

Deep Black - Courtesy of Statera

Here are the pertinents for the Opaque Collection:

Case diameter: 37 and 39mm

Lug to lug length: 42,75 and 44,55 mm

Case depth: 9,9mm

Case finish: Polished + Satin (Finished by hand)

Strap width: 20 and 22mm

Strap: Handmade leather

Dial: Enamel Grand Feu

Movement: La joux perret G-100

Glass: Sapphire crystal with 5 layers of anti-reflective coating

Hands: Thermally treated by hand in house

Waterproof: 3ATM

Warranty: 2 years

The second collection is the Transparent Collection -

Forget Me Not - Courtesy of Statera

Caeruleum - Courtesy of Statera

And the pertinents -

Case diameter: 37 and 39mm

Lug to lug length: 42,75 and 44,55 mm

Case depth: 9,9mm

Case finish: Polished + Satin (Finished by hand)

Strap width: 20 and 22mm

Strap: Handmade leather

Dial: Enamel Grand Feu

Movement: La joux perret G-100

Glass: Sapphire crystal with 5 layers of anti-reflective coating

Hands: Thermally treated by hand in house

Waterproof: 3ATM

Warranty: 2 years

And as if making their own enamel dials and assembling in their atelier was not enough...

Their watch cases are also produced in Brazil! Per Statera -

The ST02 WatchCase

With over two decades of expertise in the art of habillage, Angelique Chappuis is the mind behind the conception of our watchcases and buckles. Working closely with the Statera team, Angelique transforms technical constraints into sculptural forms, guided by an obsessive attention to proportion, ergonomics, and the subtle harmony between sharp lines and soft transitions.

The cases, offered in 37 and 39mm, are machined and hand-finished in Brazil, where her design vision takes shape through our local craftsmanship. Each buckle follows the same ethos, serving as a natural extension of the case’s architecture.

The result is more than functional, it becomes a tactile bridge between the poetry of the dial and the rhythm of the movement, a frame where mechanics and emotion coexist.

So there you have it! But keep in mind, that is the "ready to wear"! Statera also offers a bespoke experience for the customer who wants to really let their creativity flow!

The Enamel 1Z Edition

From MeisterSinger -

Courtesy of MeisterSinger

This special new piece from MeisterSinger will be limited to 24 pieces.

Courtesy of MeisterSinger

The case is of stainless steel and measures 43 mm in diameter. The movement is hand-winding, ETA's Unitas 6498.

The price in Euro is: 

4.990€

Here are the pertinents -

Model
Edition Enamel 1Z (ED-UNITAS-1ZE)

Movement
ETA/Unitas 6498, hand wound, 46h power reserve

Case
Stainless steel, sapphire glass, 5 bar, 4 screws exhibition back

Diameter
43 mm

Dial
Genuine enamel, ivory

Strap
Calf leather with croco print, Cognac, double folding clasp

Speciality
Limited to 24 pieces

Origin
German brand, Swiss Made

RRP*
4.990€

Full Circle with the Seiko Presage SPB359

Round the world and home again, that's the sailor's way!

(Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, 1971)

Long before there was a job with Tourneau, a three-year stint with DOXA, the blog formerly known as Tempus Fugit, and now probably too many consulting projects with Swiss, Japanese and German brands to count, your's truly was a semi-freshly minted graduate from the University of Oregon with a BA in English (New World Literature as a focus). It is fair to say I had not figured out what to do with my life.  

Moving to Japan changed my life. I found a career, and I met the woman I would marry. And on a side note, nearly 31 years later, we are still together.

Japanese watches at that time were not really valued the way they are now by the Japanese public and or watch collecting community as a whole. In the early 90s, Japan was very brand conscious, and at least in the metro Tokyo area, Swiss brands were IT. 

I have returned to Japan twice since living there - both times in 2018. And it's funny returning to a place you called home 25 years later. You assume that the people who were there will still be there, frozen in time. The landscape of the city I lived in (Kasukabe), had changed completely. And I suspect that now after an additional 6 years, it's changed even more. But what is curious about memory, is it is often more visceral than anything else. Smells, sights, noises can trigger memories of people and events that you have filed away deep in your personal hard drive, remaining completely forgotten until the switch is flipped.

Seiko came out with the Presage "Laurel" in 2023. It was created in celebration of Seiko's 110th anniversary. It was limited to 2500 pieces. And when I first saw it, it triggered a flood of visceral memories. It brought me back to being 23 years old, trying to figure out how to navigate in a new environment, living in a "newish" city that was still deeply rooted in the past. Old, yet modern, and constantly evolving while never letting go of its history.

I have been tracking the Presage Laurel for the past year and a half. and hitting a personal milestone, the timing seemed right. I love the look and feel of the Laurel. I appreciate the fact that it is, indeed, different. And this, in turn, might be why it did not sell out as quickly as a limited series might typically do. But there are some retail outlets our there who still have them, so if it is in your wheelhouse, I would encourage you to run, don't walk to get one before they are gone.

For those of you in search of the vital statistics:

The case measures 37.5 mm in diameter and is of stainless steel. The movement is Calibre 6R27 which is an automatic movement with self-winding capability.

The functions are hours, minutes, and seconds with a date and power reserve complication. The power reserve is approximately 45 hours.

The dial is enamel - and it is beautiful.

A watch can be simply a way to measure time. But at least for me, the Seiko Presage Laurel is a time machine, taking me back to a place and time I continue to reflect on, uncovering misplaced memories that continue to inspire me.

Enjoy your watches.

A Few Minutes With Lewis Heath

A bit of Henki lore -

A long, long time ago I was actual fit (and rumor has it, somewhat handsome) and was fairly proficient with my left foot and a football. A brief flicker of boyhood fantasy was met head-on with reality when actually clapping eyes on the ability (and size) of the Lothian lads who I'd have to prove to be better than. Needless to say, university has proven to be a wiser choice in the end ; )

Years later, Wendy and I were what might be referred to as "summer guests" in the English Teaching Unit at Saint Andrews where students squeezed in some grammar between rounds of golf and lager. We spent four summers there, all of them memorable for different reasons. And while there is much to recommend Saint Andrews, I myself have always been partial to Dundee and Glasgow.

At that time (96 - 99) I was not really into watches. I had a very nice one - a Yellow Omega Speedmaster (one of the first Schumacher models) that I paid for with summer earnings from tutoring a large group of kids from an oil-wealthy nation five afternoons a week. And it is probably just as well that anOrdain was not "in the game" at that time, as all of my summer earnings might have found their way to Glasgow.

anOrdain is not an old brand, but as with many things, quality and originality find a way of making themselves known.

And now, a few minutes with Lewis Heath -

Courtesy of AnOrdain

James Henderson - What was your first watch? Was it a gift? Is there a story behind it?

Lewis Heath - The first one I remember was a small Russian propaganda watch with an astronaut on the dial. It was kitschy and quirky and very East-Berlin circa the early noughties - a place which my student-self was besotted with! It was, naturally, purchased in a flea market and although it never worked particularly well, does bring back memories of kebabs and pubs which never shut.


JH - When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

LH - I remember thinking I was going to end up as a poet for some reason - perhaps this was my 10 year old self managing expectations and, realising even then how terrible I was at singing, creating a more feasible aspiration than the normal Rock Star one.


JH - Where did you go to school? What did you study?

LH - Architecture in Edinburgh’s art college. In all honesty I shouldn’t have got in, or (successfully passed) out really. I was a complete daydreamer at school and my exam results were awful. The admissions tutor took pity on me and let me in, but I wasn’t built for academia. It only took me 26 years to realise that..


JH - What did you do before launching anOrdain?

LH - I started a consumer electronics company - it was actually meant to be a bedroom-run business for a friend of mine who was struggling with some mental health issues, the idea was to give her some sort of purpose to her days. We borrowed money and then shortly after she got sectioned, so I was left with a fledgling audio company aimed squarely at teenage girls with a penchant for Japanese street fashion. At least you couldn’t say we didn’t have a niche! I was working on a building site at the time - it was the closest I could get to architecture - and paying back the money would have taken me years. So I decided to try and make it work. It didn’t, and after a disastrous year or two I restarted it as a mainstream audio company and when I left 5 years later we had 60 odd people and a pretty healthy business.


JH - What drew you to the watch business in the first place?

LH - I’d had this idea that making watches in the Highlands would work, based completely on an un-researched hunch when I was 18 or so, but the idea stuck and I began to think of it as what I was going to do in the long term. My old audio business was all Asian manufacturing, and I loved visiting places like Zhuhai - the food and people were just amazing - but as a designer, working with a factory on the other side of the world, half a day ahead and speaking a different language is frustrating at best. The ‘designers and makers under one roof’ ethos at anOrdain probably stemmed from that.


JH - What was the spark that moved you to create anOrdain?

LH - It was a gradual thing, it’d been on my mind for so long that in the end I just wanted to get on with it. I’m glad I didn’t do it earlier as I’d (hopefully!) got most of my mistakes out the way and had a feel for what a good business to be a part of should be by then.


JH - What have been some of the biggest challenges you have faced?

LH - The very slow, painful ascension from complete horological ignorance!
There are a lot of British based watch companies, but there’s really no industry to speak of, so starting anything here from scratch which involves manufacturing is difficult. I probably have more fingers than there are watchmakers of working age in Scotland - so we were incredibly lucky to find Chris (our watchmaker), he was distance learning through the BHI by evening and working as a picker in an Amazon warehouse by day. The local horological chapter recommended him and he’s brilliant; he’s qualified, won a load of awards and is now training up Euan, our apprentice. But he was the first and only watchmaker we could find, and that took 2 years or so!
Enameling was really the big challenge - it’s done by a few Swiss companies and Grand Seiko in Japan - I doubt if there’s anyone still alive in the UK who was employed doing it, so there was nobody to ask and no books to learn from. Back in 2014 I’d gone to see the Jewellery Dept at Glasgow School of Art to ask if they knew of any graduates who might be interested in a job working out how to make an enamel watch dial. One person got in touch and we rented a small studio for him in January 2015, and that was really the start of anOrdain.

Small to medium sized watch brands generally have a manufacturing partner - normally a Swiss assembled/Chinese parts setup, and those guys deal with the subcontractors - the case maker, hand maker, dial etc. We did look at that route, but decided to deal directly because it gave us more freedom and meant we could get a lot better quality for the same money. But that was also a steep learning curve, and I think the original Model 1 was ever so slightly clunky for that reason.


JH - What have been some of the most unexpected successes?

LH - People liking and actually buying the watches was a big one - I really didn’t know if that was going to happen during those years before launch, so that was a great relief. But for me, and hopefully none of them will read this, it’s the team. When we started there were two of us and we didn’t even know how a dial joined onto a movement. Today there are 11 very talented people - most of whom are under 30 - who have gained a huge amount of knowledge and skill and really take pride in what they do, and quite honestly are, in terms of watchmaking, doing something world-class in a city where you’d otherwise struggle to get the battery in your Swatch changed.


JH - For most "out of towners" Scotland typically means either Edinburgh or the Highlands. I have always been a Dundee and Glasgow fan myself. So a two part question - what should the naysayers know and appreciate about Glasgow? And what motivated you to set up in Glasgow?

LH - There’s an old saying which one of our customers from the US reminded me of lately - “You’ll have more fun at a Glasgow funeral than an Edinburgh wedding”. Edinburgh is beautiful, and Glasgow is friendly - I’ve lived for many years in both and there is a lot of truth in that. Although my evenings are taken up with kids these days, Glasgow has the best nightlife and music scene in Scotland, and there’s a thriving creative community - due in part to the great art school here.


JH - What is your biggest market for anOrdain?

LH - The US of A.


JH - What is "right" in the watch business? What needs to change?

LH - I’m a great fan of interesting, off-beat indies like Fiona Kruger (her chaos series is the most underrated piece of horological design to my eyes), MB&F, I always loved Alain Silberstein, Ochs und Junior - people with imagination and talent and the courage to use it in a watch really.

In terms of change, I’d like to see less duplicity when it comes to ‘Made in’. When I first went to a sourcing fair in Switzerland and saw how little was actually made there it really changed my perspective; it kind of killed the watch consumer in me! Seeing a £10k watch from a respectable Swiss brand whose only real selling point is their hand-made Swissness - a watch which the week before I’d have been excited to see in a boutique back home - actually has a dial made in Thailand, Indian hands and a Chinese strap and case just completely disillusions you. I’m very passionate about what we do and what a lot of other indies are doing, but these days when I’m on a watch website I find myself skipping articles on 80% of brands.


JH - If you weren't doing this, what do you think you might be doing?

LH - Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time trying - with mixed success - to make saucisson in a big oak chamber I built in my study. The smell of decomposing meat is never far away in this house - I have a very tolerant wife. Hopefully people continue to wear watches though and I don’t need to turn pro.


JH - What advice do you have for the next AnOrdain out there?

LH - There are some people in the industry who manage to put out a great product single-handedly - I’m always impressed whether it be Autodromo, Halios or Fiona Kruger. But if you’re anything like me the important thing is to be really self-critical, realise you’re mediocre at best when it comes to probably everything which needs to be done in the business, and make your priority finding people who are really very good at what they do.

The Noramis Date

From Union Glashütte -

Courtesy of Union Glashütte

This one absolutely speaks to me.  The case is 40 mm in diameter and is of stainless steel.  A wonderfully green dial with hours indicated by numbers at 12, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10, alternating with applied markers.  The movement is Union Glashütte's UNG-07.01.

Hours, minutes, seconds and date at 3 o'clock.
Once it's safe to travel again, I might just have to cash in all of the empty soda cans, raid the change jar and head visit a country where I can actually lay hands to this time machine, as they are not available on this side of the Atlantic.

Should you be of a similar mind, here are the pertinents -

NORAMIS DATE

MOVEMENT

Automatic movement UNG-07.01

FUNCTIONS

Hours, minutes, centre second hand, date display in dial window, second stop

CASE

Stainless steel 316L, sapphire crystal case-back

GLASS

Sapphire, anti-reflective on both faces

WATER­RESISTANT

Up to a pressure of 10 bar (100 m)

DIAL

Green with indices and Arabic numerals, rounded, enamelled

HANDS

Nickel-plated

STRAP/BRACELET

Brown leather

WEIGHT

70 g

DIAMETER

40 mm

HEIGHT

9.85 mm

REF.

D012.407.16.097.00

Back To Basics - The Montre Cadran Email Grand Feu Blanc

From Antoine Tavan -

Courtesy of Antoine Tavan

It has often been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and this is one of those times.  While many readers out there are perhaps better acquainted with Antoine Tavan's recent release, a classic  Day and Night -

And it is a wonderful watch.  That said, there is something to be said about a timeless classic.  

Available in steel and also a pretty aggressively priced gold version -

Courtesy of Antoine Tavan

Courtesy of Antoine Tavan

Sure, there is Omega, Rolex, Chopard... sorry, dozed off there for a moment.  Put another way?  The world is also full of sheep.  Or then again, you can be bold enough to pick what speaks to you.  And Antoine Tavan's classic design certainly speaks to this guy.

What Moves Me - anOrdain

And along with those things creations that had caught my eye prior to starting Tempus Fugit 10 years ago, there were others that have gently hoved into view.

In truth, anOrdain is an emotional choice.  It is one of those watches that hits a visceral button for me. For me anOrdain hits me on two levels.  First, of course, I love the look of it.  In particular, the New Model 1 Teal. 

Courtesy of anOrdain

The anOrdain Teal takes me back to a time (before I started working for DOXA, and before I started Tempus Fugit), when watches were just for fun, not for work. And they are just at the wonderful moment that NOMOS and ochs und junior were (fun, quirky, interesting) but sadly abandoned.  anOrdain is welcome return to joy, happiness and whimsy.  And it has picked up the mantel cast aside by two brands that, in hindsight, were really drinking a bit too much of their own bathwater.  It's an interesting watch with an interesting story that has a lot of craft behind it.  Long may it remain so.

But add to the wonderful look (and I can only assume, feel as I have yet to see one in the wild) is just that - scarcity.

Courtesy of anOrdain

The world is full of Omega, Rolex and (insert favorite mass produced brand here).  And in truth?  There's nothing wrong with that.  But there is truly something to be said for going with what speaks to you rather than what some marketing department says should speak to you.  

Should you be so inclined, here are the pertinents, straight from anOrdain -

Case diameter: 38mm
Lug to lug length: 46mm
Case depth: 11mm
Case finish: Polished, brushed case back
Strap width: 18mm
Dial: vitreous enamel on copper
Movement: Sellita SW-200 + Incabloc shock protection
Glass: Sapphire with 6 layers of anti-reflective coating
Hands: Steel hands, made in-house and Individually heat-treated to a ‘straw’ colour finish.
Case back: Solid screw-in
Waterproof: 5ATM
Warranty: 5 years

The Email Jour/Nuit Antoine Tavan 1805 - Full Review

Okay, now that the annual odometer has officially "flipped", it's time to wrap-up my time with the  Email Jour/Nuit Antoine Tavan 1805.

Now as mentioned in the "warm-up", this little bijoux was available on a Kickstarter crowd funder for less than $1,000 US.  Well, as The Bard once mused - 
"If you snooze, you lose." And in this case, if you snossed you lost!  The Jour/Nuit has moved from Kickstarter to reality, and with it a far more realistic (but still unbelievably reasonable) price -
CHF 1,890.

So let's get right to it.  Visually, the Jour/Nuit is a stunner.  There is no point in me trying to be anything but brutally honest, this is the shit that killed Elvis!  

 The case is of stainless steel, and measures 40 mm in diameter and 12 mm thick.

The big attraction is, of course, the dial.  So let's talk about that.   The dial is of copper, which is then enameled using traditional (read NOT MASS Production) techniques.  Long story short?  The dial was made by Roger Zarzosa and his team.  It was not ordered from a bulk production house.  

Set atop the enameled dial is a set of arcs displaying the time scale for the 24 hours.  

The hands, like the dial, are an "in-house" affair -

Courtesy of Antoine Tavan

The top hand in the above image is the hour hand. You will note that there is a "Sun" on one end and a "Moon" on the other end.  You will further notice that the Sun (daytime hours) half is longer than the Moon (evening hours).  All of the time is indicated in the upper portion of the dial, and the hours are indicated by the two aforementioned arcs -

Courtesy of Antoine Tavan

You will note the upper arc ranges from 6 (6:00 AM) - 18 (6:00 PM).  The lower arc starting at 18 (6:00 PM) - 6 (6:00 AM).  Telling the time couldn't be simpler - as you can see the sun is just about at 16 (4:00 PM) and the minute hand is just about at 56 on the minute scale. Meaning that it is 

just about 3:56.  Or more precisely?  3:55 and 35 seconds ; )

A quick note on the strap - it is not standard to the watch.  As the watch is a prototype, it was sent with something pretty basic, so I reached out to Xavier Thomas of LIC straps (Belgium), and sent him a picture of the watch asking him to come up with something special to go with it.  The strap is ostrich foot, and really goes with the watch.

Now much has been mentioned of the soon to be shortage of ETA 2824s (among other ETA products), but luckily Antoine Tavan laid hands to sufficient stock. These are not your standard 2824s, they have been modified to be 24 hour as opposed to the traditional 12 hour version.  And like the dial and the hands?  Courtesy of?  You guessed it, Roger Zarzoso and Antoine Tavan.  And unlike the big boys who would simply slap a movement in the case, Antoine Tavan put some effort in -

And in case you missed it, the dial is guaranteed for life.  My understanding is that the watch itself is guaranteed for 3 years.

So what was it like to wear?

Well, let's be 100% honest, it is a very different dial set-up than most of us will use every day.  It did take me a day or two to get used to it. Having said that, once I did it was easy and natural.  

The size is more and more the "ideal" lately, 40 mm.  The finishing of the case is smooth and well executed.  The winding of the crown is smooth and the setting precise.

All in all?  Extremely impressed!  Now, if you can find a watch with an enamel dial with this level of finish, executed by hand by the brand owner himself at twice the price, you would think it was fair.  Add in-house hands, a rotor that can be customized, and the knowledge that you are one of a handful of people to get one?  Suddenly $1,890 is a screaming bargain.  

Now just imagine you bought one during the Kickstarter?

Here are the pertinents -

Something Very Special

Now on the surface, you might look at this watch and think that you've seen it, or at least something like it before -

Courtesy of Roger Zarzoso / Antoine Tavan 

Well, you maybe you think you have, but in this particular case? Not really!

This watch was designed by Roger Zarzoso. For those unfamiliar, Mr. Zarzoso has worked behind the scenes for some of the most famous Swiss brands over a career spanning more than 30 years. He is the owner of Antoine Tavan, and this is his latest creation.

Now again, there have certainly been day/night, 24 hour watches out there before. But many of these were crafted either from base Unitas movements (hand-winding), or one-off manufacture creations. In both cases, let's just say the prices were prohibitive.

Courtesy of Roger Zarzoso / Antoine Tavan 

Well, get ready to be surprised. 

It is entirely designed and manufactured in Mr. Zarzoso's workshop in Le Locle. This watch is something of a first, as it utilizes an ETA 2824-2 automatic movement that he has modified to display a 24 hour indication. As I said, there have been plenty of these complications done with a hand-wound movement, or much more expensive manufacture concoctions. And I could be wrong, but I believe this is one of, if not the first effort at such a modification in this type of dial layout. As ever, I am anxious to know if other examples exist, so please let me know!

Another distinction is the quality of enamel work. The dial is of copper, with enamel finishing using traditional techniques. The dial contains two scales in relief, each representing a unique half of the 24 hour day.

Now the other "stop the press" aspect of this watch? Well, the rumor is that this watch is going to be offered at a very, very attractive price. How attractive? Let's just say I am ready to order RIGHT now, and I am a poor English Teacher/Social Worker, so that is saying something.

That's all for now, but stay tuned!

The Classic Dual Time Enamel

Courtesy of Ulysse Nardin

From Ulysse Nardin


Here are the pertinents, straight from the source -

Reference 

3243-132/EO

Movement

Caliber UN-334, 11 3⁄4‘’’
In-house designed movement
Escapement in Silicium
Oscillator: patented inertial balance wheel I 8 with silicium hairspring 53 jewels 

Power-Reserve 

Approximatively 48 hours 

Winding 

Self- winding 

Functions 

Hours, minutes, small seconds
Patented quickset 2nd time display with permanent home time 
at 9 o’clock
Big Date display at 2 o’clock, quick setting forwards and backwards Simplified selection of winding, adjusting the 
date and time setting via an integral pusher crown
Small seconds-hand counter at 6 o’clock 

Case

Stainless steel, diameter: 42mm 

Dial 

white “Grand Feu” enamel

Water-resistance 

30 m

Crystal 

Anti-reflective sapphire crystal 

Case-back 

Sapphire crystal 

Bracelet 

Leather strap with folding buckle

Enamel 1966 from Girard-Perregaux

Three new enamel dial 1966 models were announced yesterday.  Each piece measures 40 mm in diameter and the case is crafted of pink gold.  The dials are enamel, with diamond indices.

Courtesy of Girard-Perregaux

'The Map', 'The World' and 'Pur Sang' are the three newest members of the 1966 stable.  Each of the three versions is limited to 50 pieces.

Courtesy of Girard-Perregaux

Working with enamel is not easy.  In fact I have been told that it is a monumental pain in the ass to work with - not unlike certain bloggers ; )

Courtesy of Girard-Perregaux

I remember art class in middle school, making a "trivet".  I was all bent out of shape because it required two trips to the kiln to fire.  I was convinced it would be one of the "victims" of a pottery explosion.  Luckily it survived intact.

Okay, well take that anxiety and multiply it by several hundred.  In making the dial, the "base" portion of it is covered in white enamel, and then one by one, the different colors are applied - with the use of a microscope to ensure precision.  After each application, the dial goes "back in to oven".  After numerous trips to the kiln, the entire dial is covered with a final layer of transparent enamel.

The results speak for themselves.  There is, of course much more detail to the process, but you get the basic idea.

The movement is GP's GP03300-0060 self-winding movement.  For those unfamiliar, here are the movement specs straight from the source:

Girard-Perregaux movement GP03300-0060
Mechanical, self-winding movement

Diameter: 25.60 mm (11½''')
Frequency: 28,800 Vib/h - (4 Hz)
Power reserve: min. 46 hours
Jewels: 26
Functions: hour, minute

The watch is paired with a black alligator strap with a pink gold buckle.