The dwelling in the field next to AAA Cartier replica watches‘ giant and ultra-modern glass-walled watch manufacturing facility, situated in the Unesco World Heritage Site and watchmaking town of La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland’s Neuchatel canton, used to be just another run-of-the-mill Bernese-style farmhouse built in 1872.
That was until the iconic French luxury brand acquired the field and the farmhouse in question, and transformed it into a centre for artisans whose crafts are used to produce some of the finest horological pieces out there.
Officially opening its doors in the fall of 2014, the Maison des Metiers d’Art is now the base of operations for an esteemed group of craftspeople. And these highly skilled artisans have the good fortune to work across several floors of the completely redesigned building in an unusual open-space plan designed to enhance interaction.
The snug atmosphere evokes that of a beehive, UK top Cartier fake watches says, and encourages periods of great concentration, exchanges on traditional techniques, and the development of specific tools. Represented here are gem-setters, metal smiths, polishers, granulators, enamellers, dial-makers, stone mosaic experts, and everyone else involved in the delicate ornamental work of twisted gold, silver and various other fine materials.
Together, their work is termed “metiers d’art” in French, which translates to “art professions”. And this new-age workshop is a key part of high quality replica Cartier watches‘ effort to emphasise the creative aspect of fine watchmaking through traditional and unusual crafts to create masterpieces combining high art and high horology.
A higher purpose
Since watches so labelled are made using age-old traditional techniques, they require many hours of painstakingly difficult, carefully executed labour to complete and are destined for the watch world’s top collectors. Therefore, luxury Cartier copy watches’ metiers d’art division maintains its meticulously curated portfolio and impeccable production process by defining itself as having only three missions.
First is to preserve: cheap Cartier replica watches UK educates its craftsmen here on techniques not encountered anywhere else. The second is to share: The craftsmen here, from watchmaker and jeweller to gem-setter and enameller, work on products together. The final mission is to innovate: From the first pilot’s wristwatch to the deployant buckle, innovation runs in Cartier’s blood and it’s not planning to let go of this any time soon.
While the facility’s 350sqm ground floor once sheltered farmers and cattle alike, today it pays tribute to that heritage. Swiss made Cartier super clone watches’ architects and interior designers took inspiration from the first rural watchmaking workshops of Switzerland, where locals would flock to during the harsh winter months to make extra money producing watch components.
The commissioned architects went in search of old wooden panels for walls and ceilings from the local area, seeking out natural stone from historic fireplaces. This was skillfully combined with starkly modern materials, from the open steel staircase to the glass elevator. It’s also full of quirks — take the neo-Gothic chandelier in an airy room opening out to the garden, for example. This lighting piece was once the property of Yves Saint Laurent and purchased by former Cartier CEO Bernard Fornas.
The result: a Maison des Metiers d’Art that fuses the old and new, with traditional wooden furnishings and stone floors meeting vast sheets of glass to draw in plenty of natural light.
Wonderland of creativity
On the first floor, gemstones glitter as jewellery watches come to life, with many talented hands realising wholesale fake Cartier watches‘ hallmark panthere. The silhouettes are first sketched out by hand, then after producing a paper prototype, a wax sculpture is created. This is turned into precious metal either using traditional moulding or by computer, with the latter involving 3D printing using a special wax.
Once the shape is moulded, gem-setting is done by hand. And after marking the spaces where the stones can go, the holes for the gems are set. Glue is strictly forbidden in the process. Thus, with the utmost precision, the artisan carves grooves into the diamond to create a floating effect when attached to the copy Cartier watches for sale. Some of the stones Cartier’s specialists work with measure a mere 0.6mm in diameter.
The Maison des Metiers d’Art’s first floor is also where some of Cartier’s most unique watches are manufactured, like the much-lauded Masse Mysterieuse. Exquisite skeletonised models such as the Santos de Cartier and Pasha de Cartier replica watches online site are also created here as well.
The ancient art of filigree also takes place here entirely by hand, and it involves artisans carefully fashioning fine gold or silver wires to create patterns comprising tiny curled rings, which are then soldered together to create a motif. Cartier builds upon this by adding materials like platinum and diamonds. Working with Cartier’s specially produced micro-wires requires the utmost dexterity and skill, and creating one dial alone easily takes a whole month.
Gold bead granulation and engraving are also important practices in Cartier’s repertoire. The former presents particularly challenging hurdles, not least because the artisan works with gold balls crafted from a long gold rod, and a gold baseplate. As gold components have the same melting point, 1:1 quality Cartier fake watches worked with the Louvre Museum in Paris to discover how ancient Etruscans changed the melting point of the metal and kept all gold components intact.
Meanwhile, Cartier’s gorgeous enamel watch dials are created in the wooden loft. The atmosphere here is serene, aside from the scraping and whirring of various tools.
These dials are full of artisanal interplay, with some showcasing marquetry — the craft of applying tiny pieces of veneer to a structure forming a decorative pattern. For instance, for a straw marquetry dial, straw cut-outs are secured in place alongside 24-carat gold leaf, after which the surface is scraped away to reveal various shades of straw alongside glints of gold.
To think that over a hundred years ago, straw used to create such resplendent creations was fed to cattle, when today, its destiny is to breathe new life into crafts of the highest order. Indeed, the story of this Swiss farmhouse has been totally transformed in UK perfect replica Cartier watches‘ steadfast efforts to preserve a proud heritage and continue innovating into the future.