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Top Enamels Color Painting Techniques of Jaeger-LeCoultre

The enamels color painting of precious gems and its carving and enchasing are the top techniques in watches field. However, Jaeger-LeCoultre smartly utilizes these techniques into the watches making and art creation, deducing an ultimate elegance. Jaeger-LeCoultre is one of the few designer brands capable to use various kinds of traditional decoration on the wristwatches.

In 2009, Jaeger-LeCoultre designers specializing in enamels decorative art show their genius by two series of watches, namely, Master Minute Repeater and Master Grand Tourbillon, guiding you to have a subtle touch on two kinds of traditional techniques-High-temperature baking and mosaic enamel.

Venus Master Minute Repeater is the best representative of the marvelous enamel technique. Jaeger-LeCoultre chose one of the four classic paintings, Venus as its motif and used enamel color painting to decorate the watch dial. The inspiration comes from several aspects. But all is relative to Italian Renaissance, Spanish Academism, and French Classicism. The enamel painters of Jaeger-LeCoultre selected the classic image as their producing inspiration, including The Birth of Venus, The Venus of Urbino, Rokeby Venus and Venus Anadyomène.

Besides the extraordinary expression capability, all the masterpieces fit the small dial of Master Minute Repeater. Jaeger-LeCoultre subtly combined its respectable painters to the sweet ring of Master Minute Repeater, which is the new breakthrough in its watch making field. In order to assure the collective value, the wristwatch has hour and minute display. There are two additional displays on the watch dial, making it legible and low-pitched. The torsion released by double going-barrel is set at the position of four o’clock, and the power reserved displays at the position of eight o’clock.

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Ceramic decals: what are they and how are they made? – Exterior Painting Services

Screen-printing is an ancient method of printing invented in China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD).  This method of printing called silk-screening, because the mesh used to press the ink through was made of silk.  Silk-screen printing invented in China used primarily to print on cloth, such as silk, cotton, and other fabrics. 

 

 

Then approximately 1750 Simon Francois Ravenet who emigrated from France to England, before Simon immigrated he had been seeking a way to decorate ceramic designs using screen-printing.  In England, Simon perfected a process of transferring artistic images to decorate ceramic pieces. 

 

 

Simon Ravenet augmented screen-print as a direct printing method and created a non-direct form of printing using a new transfer system.  This new transfer system used a medium constructed from a paper that was water-resistant that had previously been printed with a water-soluble adhesive. 

 

Simon Ravenet printed the artistic design onto the water-resistant paper on top of the water-soluble adhesive and printed a clear ink over the design. The finished decalcomania then is immersed in water, the adhesive releases from the water-resistant paper leaving a decalcomania sandwiched between the water-soluble adhesive and the final clear coat of ink on the surface of the decalcomanias printed image.   Applying the decalcomania to the surface of the ceramic piece, he wanted to decorate; the adhesive would allow it to adhere to the surface of the ceramic.

 

Simon Ravenet called this new transfer system a decalcomania.   This new technology imported to the United States in Circa 1865.  Then this process popularized in the United States, during the ceramic decorating craze of the mid-1870s.  In the United States, the word decalcomania abbreviated to the version we use today decal. 

 

Simon Ravenet had inadvertently invented water-slide off decals except it would be many decades before this new printing system would be use to print decals for promotions and product branding.  Simon Francois Ravenet transfer system is different from the water-slide off decals we use today.  The difference is in the types of inks Simon’s system employed were ceramic inks.

 

Ceramic inks are employed to produce ceramic water-transfer decals.  The ceramic inks are manufactured by milling the ceramic particles into the ink.  The ceramic particle during the milling process becomes infused with the ink.  This ink is no longer common ink it is now ceramic ink. 

 

When the ceramic transfer decal is applied to the ceramic piece then the ceramic piece is fired in a kiln the decal transfer becomes a part of the ceramic. Before this new transfer invention all pottery, earthenware, ceramic, and glass were decorated by hand Exterior Painting Services a ceramic paint directly on the piece.  The same process used to cause the ceramic particles infused in the paint, so when the pottery placed in a kiln to fired the pottery the paint or ink literally became one with the pottery.

 

The question; is this style of printing used today?  Yes, fine china, every day dinnerware, mugs, drinking glasses, as well as industrial products employ ceramic decals.  The industrial uses such as; laboratory test tubes, toilet and lavatory fixtures are decorated this way, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

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