Blancpain / Métiers d'Art
Blancpain Métiers d'Art
Collection profile · 2015
Blancpain’s Métiers d'Art collection brings together one-of-a-kind or highly exclusive artistic watches made in the manufacture’s Le Brassus workshops, showcasing crafts such as enamel painting, engraving, damascening, shakudō, marquetry, binchōtan, and porcelain dial making.
Collection shots
Pronunciation & name
may-tee-AY dar
Why it matters
Métiers d'Art matters because it serves as Blancpain’s dedicated platform for preserving and advancing rare decorative crafts inside the manufacture, while turning the dial into a canvas for cultural storytelling, bespoke commissions, and techniques such as shakudō and binchōtan that are exceptionally unusual in modern watchmaking.
Key references
Collection timeline
- 2015 — Blancpain presented ref. 6615 3616 55B Shakudō at Baselworld 2015, marking the earliest clearly source-backed appearance of the Métiers d'Art collection as a named product family.
- 2018 — Blancpain unveiled the four-watch ‘Great Beauties of ancient China’ Métiers d'Art series, highlighting champlevé enamel, engraving, shakudō, marquetry, and enamel painting.
- 2019 — Blancpain announced its first porcelain dial for the Year of the Rat, expanding the collection’s craft vocabulary with porcelain and enamel painting.
- 2020 — The Formosa clouded leopard boutique edition for Taiwan showed Blancpain continuing the Métiers d'Art concept with porcelain, miniature enamel painting, shakudō, engraving, and damascening.
News
- Blancpain’s Métiers d’Art studio presents: The Great Wave 2018 — A Métiers d'Art piece inspired by Hokusai’s Great Wave introduced Mexican silver obsidian and Blancpain’s rokushō-based patination approach in a platinum case with an adapted 13R3A movement. ↗
- Métiers d’Art by Blancpain: Honoring the great beauties of ancient China 2018 — Blancpain launched a four-watch series themed around the great beauties of ancient China, using champlevé enamel, engraving, shakudō, marquetry, and enamel painting across the dials. ↗
- Blancpain creates its first porcelain dial for the Year of the Rat 2019 — This announcement introduced Blancpain’s first porcelain dial, made in the Métiers d'Art workshops and combined with freehand enamel painting for an eight-piece series. ↗
- Formosa clouded leopard: two Métiers d'Art models in a Boutique edition for Taiwan 2020 — A Taiwan boutique edition used five integrated arts within Blancpain’s Métiers d'Art workshops—porcelain, miniature enamel painting, shakudō, engraving, and damascening—to depict the Formosa clouded leopard. ↗
Fun facts
Collector note 1
Blancpain says shakudō was introduced to watchmaking by the maison and remains a signature specialty within its Métiers d'Art work.
Collector note 2
The Métiers d'Art workshops at Le Brassus are nicknamed “La Ferme,” and Blancpain explicitly presents the collection as a place where clients can collaborate on bespoke artistic designs.
FAQ
What is Blancpain Métiers d'Art?
It is Blancpain’s collection dedicated to artistic watches made with traditional decorative crafts such as enamel painting, engraving, damascening, shakudō, marquetry, binchōtan, and porcelain dial work.
Are Métiers d'Art watches regular-production models?
Generally no. Blancpain describes the collection as consisting of unique pieces or extremely exclusive artistic creations, often made as one-off commissions or special series.
Where are Blancpain Métiers d'Art watches made?
They are created in Blancpain’s Le Brassus workshops, known internally as “La Ferme,” where the brand’s artistic crafts are integrated in-house.
What makes Blancpain’s Métiers d'Art unusual among watch brands?
Blancpain emphasizes that some decorative techniques used in the collection, notably shakudō in watchmaking, are exceptionally rare and that the maison combines multiple crafts in-house for bespoke and thematic creations.
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