PIERRE, FOUNDER OF UKIYO

My first enamel dial was warped and full of bubbles. The white had turned yellow. I was trying to create a wave in cloisonné enamel. Yet, as I took it out of the kiln, I thought that with practice, I could solve these problems. I still had a great deal to learn.

As a child, I would take apart old mechanical alarm clocks and put them back together when I could. I also dreamed of becoming an illustrator and, for several years, attended classes at an art school after school. Later, my interest in science led me to study engineering.

Alongside this, I repaired watches, then began decorating their movements. I liked seeing what my hands could bring to a mechanism, but I wanted more freedom to create.

During visits to Vacheron Constantin and Patek Philippe, I discovered enamel dials reproducing paintings by Botticelli, and others revealing guilloché gold beneath the colour. I was captivated. I bought a few enamel colours, a simple kiln that I still use, then a lathe to make the silver bases for my dials.

I learned most of it on my own, with many failures along the way. A single firing could ruin several days of work. At times, I wanted to give up, but a new solution to try would give me the energy to carry on. For a long time, I kept my first dials to myself, because they were so far from what I had hoped for.

I also took a course with an accomplished enameller. Later, in her workshop in Switzerland, she introduced me to her colleagues. I was wearing one of my watches. She said to them: “This is Pierre, one of my students. Look at his watch — he taught himself everything.” Knowing that she was proud of me moved me deeply.

Japanese woodblock prints have been part of my life for a long time, particularly Hiroshige’s landscapes of the Tōkaidō. The calm of these landscapes and the seasons they evoke inspire my dials.

I had originally imagined pursuing this project in my later years. It became an increasingly important part of my life, until I realised that bringing together drawing, watches and enamel was what made me happy. In 2025, I left my career as an engineer to create UKIYO.

Today, I make the dials I dreamed of creating when I first discovered enamel.
I hope that someone looking at them might share a little of the pleasure I had in seeing them take shape.