Michel Parmigiani talks about the crafting of the brand’s exquisite Woodrock watches which employ intricate marquetry techniques.
What was the inspiration behind the Woodrock watches? They were in connection with the Montreaux Jazz Festival. It is also in connection with the Montreaux Jazz Café at Harrods, in relation to our musical partnership with the festival.
Tell us about the precious woods you have used for the watches We decided to do it as an experiment. These are some precious and rare woods. We have already used marquetry for restoring clocks. But, for the first time, this technique is being used on a wrist watch.
What was the technique used? It’s micro marquetry, which is a specific technique. We also chose that craft and art because in that way we could give work to these artists, who practice this art. Before this, they have done marquetry on music boxes and other objects, and we thought this will be a good opportunity to give new life to this ancient craft.
Do you work to any cultural brief when you are designing? I am very open-minded and very curious about other cultures and always interested in learning and discovering. I have a strong sense of empathy with many different cultures. For examples, I constructed the Hajarian lunar clock recently, and was very interested to discover when I studied the Quran, that there are close relations between the Quran and other religions,for example the Virgin Mary and Christ are mentioned many times in the Quran.