机芯装饰工艺大师

[A sustained note in the background]

(On-screen text: Chopard presents)

(Véronique picks out a tiny part and fixes it in place under a microscope.)

When I first started, I knew nothing about decoration. I instantly liked it. Each part has been shaped by hand and we work on all of them. If we do 6 parts in a row, they'll always be standard but never the same. Each piece is slightly unique.

(On-screen text: ART, from the Latin ARS, ARTIS. Talent, skill, dexterity.)

[Soft piano music plays]

(On-screen text: The word ART becomes ARTISAN.)

(On-screen text: From expertise to emotion. Chopard)

(A black and white graphite sketch of the palm of a hand, surrounded by the words EXPERTISE, CREATIVITY, EMOTION.)

I like working with my hands because I feel like I'm creating.

(A portrait of Véronique.)

(On-screen text: Véronique, Movement Decorating Artisan)

I work at Fleurier at Chopard Manufacture. I am a chamferer. My job involves embellishing parts that have been roughed out.

(Close-up of Véronique using a tiny sharp tool to cut into the part.)

(On-screen text: Roughing out an angle)

Our work must meet the Poinçon de Genève criteria.

(On-screen text: Satin-brushing a rim)

Parts must be decorated all over and have edges, chamfering, sinks and smoothed-down faces.

(On-screen text: Polishing a sink)

If it's not approved, it won't be a Poinçon de Genève part.

(Véronique cuts a piece of wood at a precise angle and uses it to polish around the angles of the part.)

I'm a patient person, you have to be very determined to learn a trade like this. It requires enormous patience. You must be meticulous, fussy even, and a perfectionist to be able to do a truly excellent job.

(On-screen text: Polishing an angle)

Some parts require 1 or 2 hours of work, so you have to love it and get in your own little bubble. We're concentrated on our work. I can't explain how, but whenever I start a part, I have to find a solution for achieving my goal each time.

(Véronique cleans the piece after filing and smoothing it.)

It's like any artisanal trade, you know when you have to stop. You sense when you're done and can't go any further, because if you do you might deform it, so you have to stop at the right moment.

(On-screen text: Satin-brushing the face)

Once a part has been completed and assembled in the movement, you see the light playing on the chamfers, and that's when everything's revealed.

(Véronique examines her work through an eyepiece. Close-up of the part glinting in the light within the timepiece.)

A bit of ourselves goes into these parts, that's why it's emotional.

(On-screen text: Chopard - The artisan of emotions - Since 1860)