Raising the artistic and artisanal dimension, the 18K rose gold elements are sculpted and delicately engraved by hand. This culture of the exceptional is reflected in the attention to detail given to every aspect of the dragon. The body, scales, paws, claws, the head with its mischievous little horns, the beard, tongue and expressive eyes – they all shine with the high level of finish associated with Haute Horlogerie. There is not a single element which has not been crafted with the most meticulous care.

#### The complexity of the myth

Initially, Sébastien Billières believed this new endeavor would, at the most, require 3-4 months of technical development. In the end, modelling this mythical and minute creature took more than a year of seemingly insurmountable design and engineering challenges.

Indeed, this is not a static sculpture, carved as one piece. This dragon is in constant motion, the result of an articulation between the calibre and the free-moving segments on one hand, and between the segments themselves on the other. Moreover, there is nothing simple about the trajectory it follows. It is neither linear nor circular, and it crosses over itself. At its core, the GENUS watchmaking concept is based on a movement along an analemma, or figure eight, the sign of infinity.

The ‘return trips,’ as it were, around the foci, the rotations to the right and left, tracing the curves and diagonals – the behavior of each segment of the dragon’s body has been studied along this path, where the speed of progression fluctuates depending on the position along the trajectory. Each one of the eleven segments – of a particular shape, height and weight – is unique. This in turn enhances the impression of unencumbered movement and realistically evokes a serpent-like undulation that is best observed along the dragon's spine.

#### A quintessential interaction

The magic is in the mix of crafts and artisanship: watchmaker and jeweler-engraver, both masters of their art, came together to create the most realistic texture for the inside of the mouth and the tongue, down to the smallest detail. To achieve this, the delicate head was sculpted from 6 separate blocks of gold. The gold thread tendrils that seem to float in the wind reveal the artist who inhabits the watchmaker. Absolute and uncompromising attention to detail pervaded each stage of the creation of this kinetic sculpture, where each element acquired a precise volume and dimension to allow the dragon to glide and cross over from one orbit to the other.

The dragon, a miniature expression of the mechanical art as is brought to life in antique automatons, is the fruit of a unique collaboration – a meeting of minds – between engineer, watchmaker, goldsmith, sculptor and engraver. Together they found a balance between mechanical constraints and aesthetic requisites. Thus, a whole range of artisan’s techniques were applied at multiple levels, from engraving to gold soldering to beading, to name only three.

The movement had to be assembled, disassembled, and reassembled three times to achieve the dragon’s natural, and fascinating, litheness and expressiveness. Consequently, just as many reworkings of the surfaces and textures were required.

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