As a part of the Armoires collection, the high-end Swiss watchmaker Julien Coudray 1518 has presented a one-of-a-kind piece dedicated to the city of Geneva. The watch dubbed Manufactura 1528 “Ville de Genève” is a purely luxurious piece in so many ways. Made in just a single copy, the watch is graced with a supreme Grand Feu enamel dial; it is housed in a highly decorated case made from solid red gold ornamented with a multitude of diamonds and finally, it is powered by a manufacture movement with hand-performed decorations. Almost entire watch (95 percent of it) is made from one kilogram of solid 18 K 2N red gold, namely its movement, dial, housing, crown and buckle.
Julien Coudray 1518 Armoires Manufactura 1528 Ville De Geneve
Crafted in the highest of standards, the unique watch depicts skilful work of artisans of many disciplines. Among them, the most notable is seen on the face of the watch where lays a depiction of the coat of arms of the city of Geneva made in highly demanding Grand Feu enamel technique. The procedure which includes an application of a vitreous material treated with heat and warmed to about 800 degrees Celsius. Since enamel is highly vagarious, the procedure is somewhat different each time it is performed and requires an amazing amount of skill and experience. However, the hard work pays off at the end when a dial gets a supreme translucent and shiny surface with a lot of depth. Since it is one of the classical techniques of beautification, it gives the watch an additional doze of charm. As if all of this was not enough, the dial of the watch is additionally ornamented with 16 diamond inserts which are placed at the twelve, the three and the six o’clock positions. It is the first product by Julien Coudray 1518 with such diamond inserts.
Julien Coudray 1518 Armoires Manufactura 1528 Ville De Geneve Watch Details
The face of Manufactura 1528 Ville de Genève timekeeper is made from enameled solid gold and consists of 13 parts. Apart from the Genovese coat of arms which is at the central position, it features domed and enameled black and white cartouches, as well as gray and blue hour and minute hands and a blued seconds hand. Needless to say, the face looks very impressive.
Even the first glance reveals that the unique product by Julien Coudray 1518 has an extremely lavish housing. Made from solid red gold like the most of the watch it features the diameter of 39 mm and the thickness of 9.85 mm. Its stationary bezel is set with 192 extra white Top Wesselton diamonds, while the case and lugs show off 192 stones of the same kind. More diamonds (15) can be seen on the crown. With the addition of 143 precious stones on the buckle (which also includes engraved pictogram) and 12 more on the movement, the total number of diamonds reaches an amazing sum of 570 stones which weigh 3.3 carats. Other materials used in the construction of the piece are glare-proofed sapphire used at both sides and hand-stitched alligator leather used for the strap.
Julien Coudray 1518 Armoires Manufactura 1528 Ville De Geneve Dial
Apart from the amazing decorations, the watch by Julien Coudray is quite respectable in the horological sense since it includes a manufacture hand-wound mechanical movement with 34 jewels and a power storage that lasts for around 55 hours. The functions it provides are hours, minutes, center seconds and a discrete indication which every four years shows the wearer that the piece requires servicing. This is performed with the use of an enameled gold drop which appears at the top of the dial.
