A Legacy Written in Fire
For over five centuries, master enamelers have practiced the art of transforming powdered glass into luminous surfaces of extraordinary depth. This tradition, known as vitreous enamel or Grand Feu, remains one of the most demanding and unforgiving crafts in horology.
At MarkLE, we continue this legacy with unwavering dedication, creating dials that will outlast the watches they adorn — and likely the generation that wears them.
The Process
The journey begins with a thin disc of precious metal — typically gold or platinum. This blank canvas must be perfectly prepared: cleaned, degreased, and sometimes textured to help the enamel adhere.
Preparing the Enamel
Raw enamel arrives as chunks of colored glass. These are ground by hand using a mortar and pestle, then washed repeatedly in distilled water until the powder is perfectly uniform. The grain size matters enormously — too fine and the enamel becomes opaque; too coarse and it won't flow evenly.
Application
Using nothing more than a fine brush and steady hands, the artisan applies the enamel powder to the dial. Each layer must be perfectly even, with no air pockets trapped beneath. This alone can take hours of focused work.
Firing
The prepared dial enters the kiln at temperatures between 800°C and 850°C. At this point, the powdered glass melts and fuses permanently to the metal surface. The piece must be watched constantly — a few seconds too long and the color shifts irreversibly.
Repetition
A finished dial typically requires six to eight firings. Each pass adds depth and luminosity, but each pass also carries the risk of catastrophic failure. A micro-crack, a bubble, a color shift — any of these means starting over.
Why Enamel?
In an age of mass production, why persist with a technique so difficult and so prone to failure? The answer is simple: nothing else compares.
An enamel dial has a depth and warmth that no printed, lacquered, or galvanic dial can match. The colors are derived from metallic oxides — cobalt for blue, chromium for green, gold for red — ensuring they will never fade. An enamel dial made today will look identical in five hundred years.
"Enamel is the only dial material that is truly permanent. Everything else is a compromise."
Our Commitment
At MarkLE, every dial is made entirely by hand, from grinding the enamel to the final polish. We reject any piece that does not meet our standards — a rejection rate that often exceeds 70%.
This is not efficiency. This is not scalable. But it is honest work, and it produces objects of genuine, lasting beauty.