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Stages in the manufacturing process
In a fine haze of sawdust, the cabinet maker leans over his block of lime wood, shaping the cabinet to regain its initial purity thanks to the rough edge of his saw and the loving incisions of his chisel. This is a gesture repeated a thousand times over and which, when completed, is one that lends shape to time by housing it noble wood.
The watchmaker permits the clock to follow the movement of time, regulated by the mechanical movements that are manufactured and that will affront the hours of history that punctuate the rhythm of nature.
The special skills of the craftsmen who apply the lacquer and the enamel add the desired grace to the body of the clock, which will have undergone some four hundred operations before it is finished.
The gilder, with meticulous attention to detail, applies fragile gold leaf to the places where the wood has been carved and prepared for this by the application of a paste made of natural ingredients. Once smoothed by the agate head, these leaves give the gold its special lustre, burnished to its full yet sober splendour by the light entering the workshop.
Now it is the turn of the painter, who decorates the clock, applying the colours of the seasons, flowers and the motifs that provide the same richness to the cabinet as notes of music in a blank page.
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