Five Skeleton Watches: Omega, Jaquet Droz, Audemars Piguet, Chopard, And Arnold

“Skeletonize” is one of the most misleading terms in haute horlogerie, evoking rather weird images of exposed bones, sharp surgical tools, and even bizarre Halloween scenes. Connoisseurs, however, know that the art of skeletonizing is a time-honored horological handcraft requiring expertise mastered by a small few specialized artists, since it is here that movement components, already tiny and filigree, are sawed and filed down to their bare essentials And all in it is an extremely decorative style. Skeletonizing is an art Too little material removed risks a reaction of “why bother?”, while a fraction too much material removed and the artisan might as well throw the piece away and start all over again The functionality of components such as plates, bridges, and cocks are rendered in all of their (usually) scintillating ethereal beauty.

The goal of the artist transforming the movement from haute horlogerie into a unique piece of art is to push . Source