FabR[Senior Patek Moderator]
26166
There's a recent fascinating interview of John Reardon on his new site, Collectability, with arguably one of the top names in the art of engraving, Christian Thibert.
Jul 24, 2020,07:04 AM
collectability.com
An interesting passage is indeed Thibert's own description of his collaboration with Anita Porchet, another famous artisan and a leader in her specific field (enameling). Though this is an example of collaboration at the highest levels, and might be necessary when different techniques are involved, I'm sure some sort of team work is pretty common for the "simpler" rare handcrafts as well, like the WTs in enamel. In fact, even for the more elaborate enamel pieces, for instance those with the 5077 or 5089 series, the dials carrying the initials AP are created by Mrs. Porchet's team, and therefore often involve the work of more than one individual.
However, we also have instances at Patek where a unique artisan is involved. An systematic example is wood marquetry, where Jerome Bouttecon has (for many years) been the *only* person authorized to produce these magnificent dials. Bouttecon is pretty universally considered a leader in his specialty, and apparently, in wood marquetry it's most difficult to find (and train) people at the top level. This also explains why wood marquetry Pateks are even more rare than the enamel ones (for instance, last year none were presented in Basel; a couple were created for the Singapore exhibit in Fall).
Cheers.