Enamelling - Made In Singapore

In watch collecting, the enamel dial especially Grand Feu Enamel is very sought after. Enamel dial timepieces carry a premium and there are very few specialists that specialises in making these dials. Even top manufactures may outsource their enamel dials, preferring to use specialists houses.

In comes Charlotte Hoe, master enameller who created the enamel dials for the Feynman Coalesce Peranakan Series. The series consists of three timepieces and Project Coalesce (see my earlier post) was sold out immediately.

The Lotus (above) is the most colourful of the trio.

From a very young age, Charlotte was already working in the family’s jewellery workshop working on bespoke jewellery with precious metals like silver and gold. Together with sister Rachel, they now run Royal Insignia - the family business. Enamelling is not a specialty normally associated with “Made in Singapore” but Charlotte has brought to the forefront her enamelling skills when she collaborated with Feynman Timekeepers on the Project Coalesce.

The Peacock (above) was perhaps the most complex.

Having graduated from The Lasalle College of the Arts, Charlotte sought to master the art of enamelling. Being such a closely guarded trade craft, there seems to have no “masters” in Singapore she can turn to. So she started exploring place in the UK and the US to learn more about enamelling. What made it even more difficult to find a suitable master was her Asian ethnicity.

The Peony (above) is another multi-coloured piece

With enamelling, the technique uses powdered glass to be fired on a base plate. Because coloured glass fires at different temperature for different colours, shades and hue, the final product must be clear as the process of firing has to be from the hottest to the coolest temperature. Even while one learns the art of enamelling in UK or the US, the training and practicing continues back in Singapore as the humidity, materials like water and equipment all makes a difference in the final product.

The centre of attraction is the dial - and the Peranakans are well known to use enamelled tiles for and in their homes. Richly coloured tea cups with intricate motifs adorn many ornaments which are still in existence today. So the search for an enamelist began. Through an introduction, YK got to know Charlotte whose family makes specialised bespoke jewellery. Perhaps one of the few enamelists in Singapore, Charlotte has had several years of experience working with enamel and precious metals like gold and silver.

While YK had some ideas of what he had wanted, the consultation with Charlotte went to and fro and the final product was somewhat vastly different from the initial impression. I will be posting a separate post on the journey of the enamelling and the challenges. But what I was told was that they had to go through 20 different dials to test the colours and to get the design right to finally get to the final product we see today.

The dial takes about 2 weeks to make but months of trial and error, 20 odd dials later, they perfected the final product. Using the champlevé technique - filling vitreous enamel in cells or troughs in a metal plate, Charlotte has to look for metals that would not warp. Enamel don’t work well with copper or zinc as they will leave impurities and residue which will discolour the final product. In the end, Charlotte chose to use pure silver instead of 925 silver as that still contains a little copper. Pure silver is the best base metal for enamelling.

So what really goes into enamelling the watch dial? Design, colour selection, application, firing at the right temperature etc. While designing the dial, Charlotte has to already know the sequence of filling and firing. And with the cell, she needed to use silver thread to create the trough which needs to be polished after firing. And if you look closely, no two cells or two blue hues will look alike. Charlotte used 5-6 kinds of blue hue to achieve the graduation.

Firing of the enamel dial is between 700ºC and 800ºC. A single colour takes 3-4 applications and firing to achieve the colour graduation. The difficulty lies in ensuring that the opaque enamel does not overlap the translucent enamel thereby losing the graduation effect. And as if the firing was not difficult enough, the enamelist still has to use the polishing stone to sand down the enamel.

I asked Charlotte about the series and which dial was the most challenging one and her respond was "Definitely Peacock!".

For the Peony, Charlotte used a special technique using silver foil to give it extra shine and that makes it more difficult and special (see below).

Enamelling is never perfect but that adds to the character of the dial. This also means no two dials are alike as all the pigments applied are by hand and the final polishing also impacts the final outcome. Several factors will impact the colour and hue and that makes each enamel dial timepiece a bit more remarkable and peculiar.

So popular was Project Coalesce, Feyman Timekeepers went on the release another enamel dial timepiece The Panda. A limited edition of 9 pieces, this iteration is also sold out.

If you are into enamel dials and would like to support Singapore artists, check with Feynman Timekeepers when they are going to release the next enamel timepiece. I assure you that you will be happy with the results.

What’s in a Name - Project Coalesce

Unite, combine, merge… but more importantly, coalesce is to bring together to form one integrated body and that’s what Project Coalesce by Feynman Timekeepers did. When YK was planning for the project, little did he know the challenges in bringing concept and design to fruition let alone the need to bring together several masters in their own field to craft one set of 3 timepieces.

From left to right - The Lotus, The Peony and The Peacock

Like a conductor in a symphony, YK had to coax the best out of each individual. Almost two solid years from start to finish, the road was anything but easy. Networking and chance played a key role but it was not as easy as picking up the phone and calling. Even while they manage to find an expert, some masters have turn down the request for collaboration - all for different reasons. But those that agreed contributed to the success of Project Coalesce we know today.

Right from the start, YK worked with Chrono.Design to conceptualise the project (Made in Singapore for Singaporeans) and it was through the suggestion of Minxiang of Chrono.Design that the idea of using the Peranakan theme was born. What better way to showcase local culture than selecting the Peranakan theme. Peranakan or Straits-born Chinese have a rich heritage straddling both the Chinese and Malay culture and in earlier days, many such Peranakan homes were well decorated with elaborate tiles and ornaments. The idea struck and the timepieces were born.

How many parties were brought together to finalise the project you ask? No less than 8 different parties with the movement, case and hands coming from overseas suppliers and the rest are local source befitting of the term Made in Singapore!

The Overall Theme & Design

One person which contributed much to Project Coalesce is Minxiang from Chrono.Design. He is the first ever designer Feynman worked with and has been instrumental throughout the whole design process of Project Coalesce. The concept of Peranakan was actually suggested by him and he was part of the team which designed the watch dial.

The Dial

The Lotus

The centre of attraction is the dial - and the Peranakans are well known to use enamelled tiles for and in their homes. Richly coloured tea cups with intricate motifs adorn many Peranakan homes and many such ornaments are still in existence today. So the search for an enamelist began. Through an introduction, YK got to know Charlotte whose family makes specialised bespoke jewellery. Perhaps one of the few enamelists in Singapore, Charlotte has had several years of experience working with enamel and precious metals like gold and silver.

The Peony

While YK had some ideas of what he had wanted, the consultation with Charlotte went to and fro and the final product was somewhat vastly different from the initial impression. I will be posting a separate post on the journey of the enamelling and the challenges. But what I was told was that they had to go through 20 different dials to finally get to the final product we see today.

The Peacock

I asked Charlotte about the series and which dial was the most challenging one and her response was "Definitely Peacock!". I shall be doing an in-depth post on her enamelling and the journey from concept to actualisation.

The Strap

Leading the charge for the strap is Shuyi of Yi Leather. She worked with YK on the strap concept and how they could further enhance the strap. Beading was the answer. If you think the enamelling journey was difficult, finding someone who can do the beading on the strap was no walk in the park either. Initially having found a master, the discussion came to a dead end as the master does not want to work on watch straps. But all was not dead when he suggested they approach Peranakan Beadworks Maker Raymond Wong. As with the enamelling journey, I hope to be able to do a separate post on the excellent work of Shuyi and Mr. Wong on the beading on the strap and the strap making process. The details of the beadwork and that of the strap is very intricate and compliments well the watch dials.

The Watch Engineering

With the design firmly moving in the right direction, YK needed to find the right movement, case shape, hands etc. In comes Alvin Sim, Feynman resident watchmaker and engineer. First things first - deconstruct the whole into smaller parts and find the source that can be integrated into a whole package. Needless to say, Alvin and YK had to go through several trial and error to ensure the final product works, not just aesthetically but also functionally. When they managed to find a pinion, it could be too short and the hands would be pressing on the dial. Too long and the hands would brush on the top sapphire glass. Just on the pinion alone, they went through 8 iterations finally getting it right. Then came the hands - choosing the right material and hand type was critical as the weight of the hands would impact the power loss and amplitude. 4 iterations and 10 meetings later, they settled for titanium hands made by a supplier in Europe.

Case was coming from China and the movement was chosen as the Peseux 7001 (ETA) manual winding movement. Finished to a higher standard than the normal ETA ébauche, the 7001 was a nice fit for the project.

And if you ask why the crown was set at the 4 o’clock position, that’s in line with the Feynman range - their signature. That will be another post on why that is but in short, it has everything to do with the Golden ratio. Perhaps more of that in a separate post.

The Box and Tray

Not only did Feynman focus on the timepiece, they paid attention to the whole package including the box and the tray. Not only is the timepiece important, the whole embodiment of the entire package must be befitting the effort and telling a compelling story. YK had been a fan of the work of Wanyu (IG Deletrium), having seen her pictures she shot for Bovet. She actually had another client at the time when YK engaged her and it was a coincidence that the client was also dealing with Peranakan products. Wanyu took a leap of faith and took both their products and combined into a photoshoot. The results turned out very well and they decided that they should work together. That picture was subsequently published in "The Watch Annual 2022" magazine too.

The box and tray makers commissioned the work and chose the Marina Bay Skyline as the landscape on the box. But what made it even more special was sourcing the talent from the Pathlight School. Pathlight, as some of you may know, is a school for special needs persons and the school’s Artist Development Programme (ADP) brought forth talent like Glenn Phua who also won the F1-UBS Art competition. The makers commissioned Glenn to draw the skyline of Singapore which appears on the box.

Having spoken with YK, Shuyi and Charlotte about the project, I have just begun to understand the challenges and pain that they have gone through to make Project Coalesce a success. For now, I enjoy the set with my wife and look forward to the next project from Feynman Timekeepers.