Savoir-Faire & Métiers d'Art

Art of Micromosaic

An inimitable luxury made by hand in Ravenna, Italy, the ancient art of micromosaic embraces the dials of the Premier Precious Micromosaic and Premier Precious Peacock timepieces.

Widely used in Ancient Greece and Rome, the art of mosaic flourished under the Byzantine Empire. Ravenna, the capital city of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, and then Byzantine Italy through the eighth century, took the art of mosaic to unprecedented levels, creating masterpieces for the local walls and ceilings of the early Christian monuments.

The six unique models presented by Harry Winston feature timeless handcrafted dials that juxtapose bold color palettes with contrasting fragments of translucent and opaque glass, to create geometric and peacock designs that are fascinating and unique. These creations, are highlighted with quintessential Harry Winston diamonds in an artistic marriage that is destined to shine for a lifetime.

Japanese arts of Urushi, Maki-e & Raden

The result of a partnership with the Japanese company Nakaya, the Midnight Yozora timepieces and fountain pens are works of art created entirely by hand using ancient Japanese decorative techniques.

Uniting urushi lacquer, raden mother-of-pearl, and the ‘sprinkled picture’ art of maki-e, the dials of the Midnight Yozora recreate the famous arched entrance to Harry Winston’s Fifth Avenue Salon.

Urushi, one of the seven traditional Japanese art forms, is a natural sap extracted from the lacquer tree. The thick, sticky and semi-liquid material creates a lustrous and glossy protective coat that is highly appreciated in Japanese decorative arts.

Maki-e is another ancestral Japanese artistic technique and involves the sprinkling of metallic powder over damp urushi to create patterns. In maki-e, artisans fill a fine bamboo canister with palladium and platinum powder and then sprinkle it over the urushi lacquer until the desired effect is obtained.

The final Japanese artistic technique employed for the dials of the Yozora timepieces was raden, in which inlays of mother-of-pearl are pressed into the urushi lacquer to add a wonderful iridescent glow to the scene.

Extremely demanding, these different arts combined together resulted in two extraordinary creations paying tribute to New York’s night sky.

Arts of silk weaving & embossing

The Premier Delicate Silk timepieces explore the origins of luxury and fuse together the ancient art of silk weaving and embossing, with a dash of noble inspiration from Europe’s royal houses.

Silk has always been considered the most precious natural fabric and was first developed in ancient China over 4,000 years ago. Originally reserved for Emperors, a growing demand for the luxurious textile led to the opening of the Silk Route, a vast network of trade routes connecting the East to the West.

Because of its rich historical symbolism and innate beauty, the House of Harry Winston decided to use silk as the backdrop for the dials of the Premier Delicate Silk. Unlike anything done before in the history of silk production, Harry Winston designers embarked on a new project and used a novel technique that encourages the silkworm to weave its own fabric. The result is a delicate, small area of raw silk created without the interaction of human hands. This gift of raw silk, produced directly by nature, was then dyed to obtain four colors which form the background of the dial: an intense royal red, a silvery grey, a pure white and a delicate imperial pink hue. Once the unique material was procured a master embosser was able to stamp the 18 or 22 karat gold design into the raw silk, giving the material a remarkable sense of volume and depth.

Art of Raden

The Premier and Midnight Precious Weaving timepieces unveil the sublime work of Harry Winston’s craftsmen, whose hand-woven know-how honors the founder’s boundless creative spirit.

With these five artistic creations, the Precious Weaving models are the fruit of a rare Japanese weaving technique in which threads of gold and/or silk are woven with slivers of natural mother-of-pearl to create a unique tapestry of shimmering beauty.

Derived from the ancestral Japanese technique of Raden - involving the application of shells onto the surface of wood or lacquered objects - this particular decorative art uses silk thread and wafer-thin slivers of natural mother-of-pearl to weave a supple fabric that scintillates with a light of its own.

A year and a half of creative reflection and development were invested in the project, which marks the first time for the technique of weaving silk with mother-of-pearl has been used to create a miniature canvas for a timepiece. The beauty of combining organic material from the sea (mother-of-pearl) and the land (silkworms), woven together on a miniature handloom to create a tapestry that will not fade over time, adds a timeless quality to these amazing timepieces.

Art of butterfly marquetry

With the Premier Precious Butterfly watches, the House of Harry Winston continues to explore unexpected pairings.

The material chosen for these four magical models is brimming with emotions and symbolism.

The vibrant colors adorning the Premier Precious Butterfly timepieces are created using only the fragile, yet extraordinarily iridescent pigment found on the powder of butterfly wings. The technique required three years of creative reflection and development before Harry Winston designers successfully harvested and expertly placed this delicate powder on each dial, transforming them into artistic creations.

Featuring stunning and intensely appealing colors, each Premier Precious Butterfly dial is as unique as a butterfly and allows for a rare and mesmerizing visual experience.

Art of Grand Feu enamel

Continuing its sacred tradition of ornamentation, Harry Winston creates a series of enchanting dials enhanced with gold engraving.

The three Premier Shinde models are inspired by the archival jewelry creations of Mr. Ambaji Shinde, Harry Winston’s acclaimed designer. They reinterpret two of his necklace designs, including the famous “Étoile du Désert” and a tiara, all masterpieces and an important part of the history of the House.

The dials of the Premier Shinde models are made of Grand Feu enamel, a supremely demanding material. The enamel is fired at temperatures between 800 and 900°C, a temperature so extreme that it can jeopardize the work done up until that point.  The studied firing operation reveals the beauty and depth of the colors.

Paired with the Grand Feu enamel, the symbolic jewelry motifs are created using a special gold engraving technique, resulting in a multi-layered effect. These motifs are made with a slender 24 karat thread, daintily resembling a cannetille – a small filigree-type element composed of spirally twisted gold thread measuring a mere four-tenths of a millimeter - and its capabilities and resulting design are truly extraordinary.

Art of plumasserie

As delicate as its raw material, the feather marquetry is practiced by a rare breed of craftsmen who continue to perpetuate this ancestral ornamental art. In collaboration with Mrs. Nelly Saunier and loyal to its vocation, Harry Winston wished to express itself in a unique register where poetry and sensuality merge to form an inseparable whole.

Each of the three Premier Feathers models, issued in limited production, features a marquetry created with the feathers of a bird belonging to an authorized species and specifically bred for this purpose. In addition to extreme dexterity, this skill requires excellent perception of volumes and above all, colors.  Each dial thus crafted composes a nocturnal motif in shades of sky blue, turquoise, or sapphire blue, revealed by a touch of immaculate white or deep purple.

The Premier Feathers models set a magnificent scene for the marriage between watchmaking and feather art. Time flies by on feathered wings, subtly melting into infinite night.