Zenith

Zenith has entirely revamped the backplate of the Academy's movement and converted it into a strip cartoon narrating the adventures of the Christopher Columbus: 

Prominently displayed is Columbus' vessel Santa Maria which he used for his first voyage in 1492 (the ship ran aground on Christmas Day 1492 and had to be abandoned). To the right of the escapement bulb you'll find a portrait of the explorer, accompanied by a detailed reproduction of a sextant, a crucial navigating tool Columbus used on his ships.

The result is  feast for the eyes and a marvel for admirers of human creativity and artisanal skills: 

 To achieve this Zenith employed all the major decorative handicrafts the manufacture masters since 150 years:

- micro-engraving

- enamelling (including Cloisonné)

- miniature painting

For a good reason I will present those in that order.

1.) Micro-Engraving:

Engraving represents the foundation onto which all other techniques are built upon. The entire back plate of the movement, crafted in gold, is adorned with a highly detailed gold relief of the Santa Maria. The three-master is executed with loving attention to the tiniest minutiae, e.g. the rigging and the hemp ropes.

A major challenge was to identify suitable anchor points for the backplate and to reduce the overall height of the movement as well as the clearance between movement and backplate to the minimum. Below the sials, for example, that clearance is less than 1/10th of a millimeter!

Below the vessel and right to the gravity control module you'll find a very lively engraving of a portrait of Columbus. Note the variance in the surface finishings which give a surprisingly lifelike rendering of his face.

To the gimbal's right side a nautical sextant is placed - one immediately wants to take it for use. Did you see the equally well engraved waves dancing around the Santa Maria?

2.) Enamelling:

A sailing ship has some characteristics that are naturally amenable to the art of enamel embellishments: the sails itself. Instead of just filling the sail area with enamel Zenith did the extra effort and aimed at a precise reproduction of the Holy Cross on the main sails.

On a closer look its not that true to the historical sail - Zenith allowed itself the freedom to exchange the cross on the frontmost sail with its own logo...

Zenith used even two distinct enamelling techniques to achieve this result: The larger sails are done in Cloisonné enamel. With this technique an image is realised by different enamel colour compartments separated from each other by small soldered silver or gold wires. The compartments are filled with the respective enamel pastes and subsequently fired.

Other elements like for example the top flag on the main mast are executed in Champlevé enamel, whereby  troughs or cells are carved or etched and filled with vitreous enamel:

3.) Miniature painting:

Painting such small surfaces like a wrist watch movement is a delicate undertaking. Nevertheless Zenith has resorted to this craft to a great extend of the surface and - also - to a great effect.

What stands out at the first view (ok, maybe the second in the case of watch enthusiasts ;-)) is the mainplate that is covered with a deep blue lacquer through which the archetypical (and here hand-engraved!) Zenith stars as well the brands name stand out:

Also the backplate is lacquered the same way, just refer to the images above.

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