The Blancpain Villeret Métiers D’Art Ganesh watch, as the name indicates, is a stunning tribute to the Hindu Lord Ganesha, and it is a new offering form Blancpain’s Villeret line of watches. Lord Ganesha, also known as Vinayaka (Knowledgeable) and Vighneshwara (Lord of obstacles) is one of the most worshipped deities in the Hindu religion and is a revered figure outside of Hinduism. Lord Ganesha is also known to be the patron of arts, and Blancpain have released this stunning watch to celebrate Lord Ganesha’s birthday.

The Blancpain Villeret Métiers D’Art Ganesh is a product of Blancpain’s award-winning Métiers D’Art studio located in Vallée do Joux. The studio is renowned for a wide range of artistic crafts including fine engraving, enamelling, damascening, Shakudō, and more. Having won the Artistic Crafts prize for the Blancpain Villeret Shakudō Ganesh watch in 2015, Métiers D’Art studio is back with another unique interpretation of the Ganesh theme. The beautiful portrait of the God on the dial is a result of combining fine engraving, damascening and Shakudō, and is testimony to the skills and craftsmanship of Blancpain artisans.

The black patina on the dial of the Blancpain Villeret Métiers D’Art Ganesh is achieved with the help of Shakudō, which is an alloy of gold and copper. Unpatinated Shakudō resembles that of bronze, and Blancpain’s artisans delicately treat the surface multiple times to achieve the final subtle black shades that mark this art form. Another art form which adorns this dial, and is only used by Blancpain is damascening. Damascening is the art of inlaying different metals into one another, and it is utilised to hand-carve fine designs on the dial of the Blancpain Villeret Métiers D’Art Ganesh watch, following which gold is hammered into the resulting troughs.

Continuing with the overall golden theme of the intricately finished dial, this watch is equipped with a 45mm wide red gold case with Blancpain’s signature double-stepped bezel, adding to the overall warmth of the design. At the helm of this watch is the ultra slim manually wound in-house caliber 15B, offering a power reserve of 40 hours. The movement has been moderately decorated with finely hand-applied Côtes de Genève along with bevelling and circular graining, and can be viewed from the transparent case back.

The Blancpain Villeret Métiers D’Art Ganesh is literally a one-of-a-kind watch, with only one timepiece being produced. It is targeted towards devotees of Lord Ganesha who want to maintain a divine connection and a close proximity to the God. The watch is finished with a brown alligator strap and comes with a hefty price tag of £111,550.