Cartier’s Maison des Métiers d’Art

For ten years, the Maison des Métiers d’Art has been an ecosystem of knowledge and skills, talents and expertise, engaged in an intense dialogue weaving fundamental and precious ties between heritage and cutting-edge technologies. This space embodies the common thread running through all Cartier creations.

The Maison des Métiers d’Art in La Chaux-de-Fonds brings together crafts tailored to the microscopic world of watchmaking: crafts that have evolved over time to develop new approaches and those based on experience, secretly passed on from master to apprentice in the workshops. It’s this human and technical heritage that Cartier protects and develops in this exceptional location at the heart of a network of excellence that forms the Cartier Watchmaking Manufactures.

Located right next to the Watchmaking Manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Maison des Métiers d’Art reflects Cartier’s commitment to artistic crafts: rooted in history and looking to the future.

A place of tradition looking to the future
Housed in a fully restored 17^th-century bernese-style farmhouse, the Maison des Métiers d’Art is a highly modern building where the finest watchmaking precision is combined with artisans’ expertise.

In this 1,500 m² house-workshop with a unique atmosphere, ancestral techniques, some of which date back several millennia, are brought to life through unique creations.

In 2011, Cartier acquired the farm with the ambition of transforming it into a hub of creative innovation, drawing on a heritage of ancient traditions and expertise that would evolve over time.

The restoration involved reconstructing the interior of the building using elements salvaged from a number of farmhouses in the region and from the cantons of Neuchâtel and Bern (wood panelling, stone floors, doors, fireplace, etc.). The dimensions and shape of the original building have been preserved, as has the use of whitewash, a common element found in the region, on the façades. To guarantee a modern architectural and functional organisation, action was taken to meet the requirements by making adjustments that respected the existing structure.

The need to bring more light into this old building led the architects to design a central shaft running through the floors to provide essential light to the watchmaking and jewellery artisans.

Today, this site is specifically dedicated to the development and production of prestige watch collections, based on a singular and exciting combination of artistic crafts and jewellery and watchmaking expertise. The teams are made up of around 50 employees. To facilitate interaction between the specific teams in these specialised areas, recent improvements have been made to better meet this need for fluidity. Their combined talent has led to more than 30 patents.

A place for watchmaking and jewellery to come together
With the Maison des Métiers d’Art, Cartier facilitates the blending of its two founding crafts, watchmaking and jewellery. While the history of Cartier began with jewellery in 1847, watchmaking became prominent in 1853. These two worlds have evolved through a synergy that has developed the Maison’s unique spirit.

Today, watchmaking and jewellery work in unison. The metalwork is carried out under the eye of the jeweller, who is both the sculptor and architect of a jewellery piece, as well as the coordinator of the whole creation process. In this way, setting and polishing are at the service of watchmaking precision. The gem-setters at the Maison des Métiers d’Art utilise the same settings as the Paris workshops, such as bead setting, inverted pavilion setting and Cartier’s own “fur” (pelage) setting.

The components of Fine Watchmaking movements are produced and decorated at the Manufacture’s workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds, where various decorative operations, such as circular graining, take place. They are then transferred to the Maison des Métiers d’Art where they are assembled, fitted together and checked before becoming movements. This system relies on rigorous management and constant dialogue between all the parts of the ecosystem.

Preserve, innovate and share
These artistic crafts – many of which have never been documented in written form – run the risk of dying out over time. For Cartier, developing this expertise is a necessity and a duty. It is also a question of developing them so that the Maison can continue to create new aesthetics and to surprise, while working with modern constraints. This mission is based on research into the past to rediscover practices, techniques and finishes, as well as into the future, to adapt old tools to contemporary creative criteria.

The Maison des Métiers d’Art has always worked with the best partners and collaborates with exceptional artisans at the cutting edge of their craft. These artisans are regularly invited to work in specialised spaces to meet the needs of certain creations. This open approach allows for distinctive contributions that fuel this ecosystem in a shared quest for excellence.

Preserve
Artistic crafts can be divided into three main families: the art of fire, the art of metal and the art of composition.

The art of fire: enamelling
The art of fire covers all the techniques involved in working with enamel. There are several types of enamel: painted, cloisonné, champlevé, grisaille, grisaille gold paste or plique-à-jour enamel. These special techniques are constantly evolving, either by improving upon traditional skills or through recent innovation. Grisaille enamel is a technique inspired by experienced Benedictine monks.

The art of metal: granulation, filigree
For Etruscan granulation, the master artisan creates gold beads of varying sizes by hand. Placed one by one on counter-relief motifs, they are secured using a laser technique. A watch dial passes under the flame between 2,000 and 3,000 times. Enamel granulation combines the art of Etruscan granulation with enamelling. The enamel is stretched into wires that are chiselled into flakes which, under the effect of heat, become beads. They are then joined together to create the desired pattern, colour tone and volume.

Filigree is a goldsmithing technique that fuses together gold or silver wires to produce an openwork grid bearing the desired motif. For Cartier, the challenge consists of adapting the technique to the dimensions of a watch case, while also enhancing the craftsmanship with precious jewellery materials such as gold, platinum and diamonds.

The art of composition: marquetry
At the Maison des Métiers d’Art, the art of composition encompasses the art of assembling different materials such as wood, straw or rose petals inside a watch dial. Depending on the motif, there can be as many as 400 tesserae laid one by one inside
the dial.

Innovate
Innovation at Cartier is the result of exchanges between tradition and modernity and is born from a constant synergy between artisans and engineers. It relies on a special dynamic that combines the most advanced technologies with singular craftsmanship. This approach demanding a very high level of expertise results in jewellery watches that place technical skill at the service of style and aesthetics.

Within the Maison des Métiers d’Art, a research department houses a team of engineers, experts and technicians whose work leads to surprising creations that are developed using technology around micro-fluidics, mechanics or magnetism, along with more recent innovations such as 3D printing on gold or lasers.

Share
Because these crafts are passed down from master to apprentice, through experience and most often orally, sharing is a priority for the Maison des Métiers d’Art, leading it to establish ties with nearby schools in both Switzerland and France.

October 17, 2024