The Artistic Symphony of Halcyon's Porcelain and Enamel Craftsmanship
Halcyon watch dial combines two crafts: porcelain dial and enamel painting, each known for their complex production processes and low success rates.
Porcelain Dial
Let's first delve into porcelain. The beauty of porcelain stems from its unique texture and luster, which are primarily determined by the various sizes of bubbles formed during the firing process. These bubbles cause complex refractions and reflections of light, producing an enchanting, glossy sheen and delicate color texture. Thus, the manual process of porcelain making and the uncertainties in firing bestow upon porcelain its distinctive aesthetic.
However, it is these very uncertainties that present challenges in achieving the high level of flatness required for watch movement installation (the tolerance must be within 0.02mm, while the average thickness of printer paper is about 0.1mm, meaning the dial's flatness must have an error margin less than one-fifth that of paper).
Therefore, apart from a few brands that strive for the ultimate, many watchmakers, in their attempt to replicate the unique light and shadow effects of porcelain, might turn to enamel dials or opt for industrial substitutes like zirconia, which is commonly used in mobile phone cases, dentures, and synthetic gemstones. However, these substitute materials differ significantly in texture and touch from genuine porcelain. In fact, pure porcelain watches are exceedingly rare in history, which itself highlights the complexity and technical challenges of creating porcelain dials.
Halcyon has gathered top porcelain experts in Jingdezhen, known as the porcelain capital, and collaborated with China's leading porcelain institutions. In advanced porcelain laboratories, after three years of meticulous adjustment of glazes and firing conditions, we finally produced porcelain dials that meet our standards. At the same time, we endeavored to preserve traditional processes and details, such as trimming, glazing, using ancient kilns, and pine wood as fuel, endowing Halcyon dials with unparalleled light and shadow effects.
Enamel Painting
Another technique employed by Halcyon, the enamel miniature painting, is not only rare but also highly challenging, regarded as one of the most complex dial-making crafts. Enamel miniature painting is renowned for its bright and vivid colors, making it an ideal choice for micro porcelain painting, capable of creating intricate, layered, and richly detailed images. The brilliance of the enamel perfectly complements the warm and gentle glow of the porcelain dial surface, enhancing the visual impact of the artwork while elevating its overall elegance.
The process of enamel miniature painting is intricate, requiring each color to be individually painted and fired, often needing multiple repetitions to complete a single piece. This not only demands great patience and skill from the artist but also carries the risk of damaging the artwork with each firing. Therefore, enamel miniature painting is not just a time-consuming process but also a high-risk artistic endeavor, challenging even the most talented artists. The complexity and risk associated with this craft further highlight the unique artistic value and craftsmanship spirit of the Halcyon dial.
Delight the life
Halcyon's mission is to allow more people to appreciate and own these art-grade watches, breaking the barrier where only a few wealthy collectors can enjoy top-tier craftsmanship. We aspire for Halcyon watches to be more than just timepieces but an artistic delight in your daily life.
Eternal Elegance: The Art and Challenge of Porcelain Watch Dials
Porcelain has always been a symbol of eternal beauty, bearing the civilization and wisdom of humanity for thousands of years. Its delicate texture, lustrous sheen, and subtle color variations are truly captivating.
- The luster of fine porcelain resembles oil: thick, warm, and captivating.
The luster of porcelain comes from the densely packed tiny bubbles on its surface and the texture of the glaze. The porcelain items we use daily are produced in a controlled assembly line manner, resulting in uniformly arranged bubbles that give the surface a glaring and monotonous shine.
To achieve a warm luster and delicate texture, two key conditions are required: pinewood firing and handcrafted work.
During the prolonged burning process, which lasts for over a day, the oils from the burning pinewood gradually merge into the porcelain surface, giving it a warm sheen.
A kiln fueled by pinewood (an enclosed room used for firing porcelain).
- To achieve a captivating luster, the tile must undergo a complex process that includes billet making, billet sharpening, glaze making, glaze blowing, wood preparation, wood filling, and kiln sealing.
Shape the porcelain base starting from the clay.
The skilled craftsman blows the porcelain glaze onto the dial using his mouth.
However, this romantic process also results in a very low success rate for pinewood-fired porcelain, especially in the production of porcelain watch dials.
Firstly, for the precision required by watch movements, the thickness of the dial must be less than 1 millimeter, with a tolerance of less than 0.02 millimeters. For stone and metal, this is relatively easy to achieve because metal can be extended, and stone and wood can be polished to meet the requirements through post-processing.
Only flawless porcelain pieces can be kept.
However, although porcelain originates from soft clay, once it is given a soul by fire, it cannot be further processed from the moment it is formed. All we can do is select.
Additionally, for porcelain watch dials with a diameter of 30 to 40 millimeters, minor details or small blemishes that are not noticeable on larger items are unacceptable on the dial. Even if a tiny speck of dust settles on the surface, it must be discarded.
- It can be seen that, in the sunlight, the kiln (the room for firing porcelain) is filled with hazardous (fine dust).
As you can imagine, the romantic feel-driven production process and the primitive, dust-and-fire-filled production environment, combined with such stringent selection criteria, result in the remaining porcelain pieces being truly one in a hundred. Out of a kiln fired with 1,000 kilograms of pinewood, producing several thousand pieces, only a few dozen meet the standards, highlighting the difficulty and preciousness of the production process.
This is precisely why, although we cannot exhaustively cover all the porcelain watches on the market, we can responsibly say that throughout the history of watches, even including those rare pieces that appear at auctions, genuine porcelain dial watches are still very few and far between.