XRby. The exceedingly rare art of wood micro-marquetry can be seen on Patek Philippe's Alpine-scene watches, which feature hundreds of individual wood slices.
Cartier has a farmhouse studio in the mountain meadows of the Jura, where artists can experiment with new versions of these old crafts.There are contemporary echoes of these materials in fine pieces such as the elegant and fluid-lined Hermès Slim d'Hermès Pégase Paysage ('horse landscape' in wood) and Piaget's subtly Op art Altiplano, a clever mix of wood and leather with a diamond bezel.
Dior's Grand Bal Plume series, meanwhile, inlays 25 tiny pieces of feather onto the dial-side rotor to suggest a swirling couture gown - the latest iteration is embellished with miniature, gold-set.
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