DeLaneau welcomes a feathered parakeet into its magical menagerie of animal and nature-inspired watch dials. A wealth of artistic techniques alights on the dial of the DeLaneau Night Parakeet watch, with its enamel dial and ornate gold-engraved garland framing the dreamy nightscape.
DeLaneau is the equivalent of haute couture translated into the miniature realm of watchmaking. Devoted to creating unique, bespoke timepieces for women, the Genevan watchmaker offers “a journey of co-creation”, creating a watch from scratch, designed to the exact specifications of the client. Every single detail – from the choice of artwork on the dial to the shape of the case and colour and cut of gemstones through to the type of movement and strap – is decided in conjunction with the client, and the result is an absolutely unique, inimitable piece of art you can admire day in, day out on your wrist.
As a brand specialising in one-off, inimitable pieces of watch art, showcasing its artwork means constantly renovating the show pieces so people can get a taste of what this Geneva-based watch brand is capable of conjuring up. The latest brand ambassador is the Night Parakeet watch, featuring a vibrant green parakeet set against a gradated mauve night sky complete with twinkling golden stars. Inspired by the paintings of French botanical and zoological illustrator Jacques Barraband, the Night Parakeet is in fact the work of two artists, an enameller and an engraver, who worked hand in hand to bring this tropical scene to life.
Entirely painted by hand by DeLaneau’s in-house enamel artist Florence Huguenot, different enamelling skills have been used to create the dial: miniature painting with enamel to capture the scenery and gold paillons to recreate the shimmering night stars and planets. To ensure that the colours will look as vibrant and vivid as they did on the day they were created, a layer of transparent enamel –known as the Geneva technique – has been applied over the painting.
In addition to the exceptional work on the dial, the Night Parakeet watch flies into the domain of a jewellery watch with its stunning hand-engraved gold garland set on the dial. Composed of swirling floral patterns decorated with plique-à-jour enamel – the application of translucent enamel in the gold cells – you will notice the delicate sculpted and engraved wings of a gold butterfly between 2 and 3 o’clock on the dial and a silvery moon pitted with craters and reliefs at midnight, made entirely from silver paillons. The art of paillonné enamel – also used to create the gold stars and planets on the dial – involves applying wafer-thin foils of gold to create texture and light, which in turn are protected by a layer of translucent enamel.
The case of the Night Parakeet is a 42mm red gold case set with 185 diamonds on the bezel, lugs and crown, while the hours and minutes are kept ticking with a mechanical automatic movement. In keeping with the jewellery character of this model, the alligator strap is attached to the wrist with a red gold deploying buckles set with diamonds.
