Rodeline
Watch-polishing artisan

Lights, please! If there were an Artisan who works in harmony with light, it is Rodeline, a luxury Watch-Polishing Artisan in our Manufacture since 2007. Every day, fired by the same passion, she reveals the luster of metals so that they reflect sunbeams as brightly as possible. Swiss watches pass through her hands in the final stage of their production, before being revealed to the public in all their brilliance and beauty.

[A sustained note in the background]

(On-screen text: Chopard presents) 

(A close-up of a dial. Rodeline works at a machine in her workshop.)

When I first came to Chopard, I was 15 and I was looking for an apprenticeship.

(On-screen text: Decorating the caseback using a beading technique)

I knew it was a job you did with your hands, but I didn't know what it was all about.

(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.)

Hands are really something for me. They're very important.

(A portrait of Rodeline.) 

(On-screen text: Rodeline, Watch-Polishing Artisan)

During my apprenticeship, I really fell in love with the job. Something happened and I thought, this is what I'm meant to do.

(On-screen text: Eliminating machining marks by emerising) 

(Rodeline polishes an engraved watch case back with the inscription "1000 Miglia". She tweaks the settings on the machine she is using and tilts the piece to shine the whole surface.)

What I love about Chopard is that there are so many new things. New models are launched every year, it's always a challenge, you wonder what's going to come along next. I really enjoy complicated things.

(On-screen text: Preparing for polishing by felt polishing)

It's really something...

(On-screen text: Creating radiance by buffing)

Nothing is more exciting than the first manufactured piece taken from the model, there isn't another, it's the only one, the first one, it's for the family.

(Rodeline shines a "Happy Sport" case, inspecting it and selecting tools to polish the entire surface.) 

(On-screen text: Polishing)

When I first see a brand new piece, I look at the material, the angles, I think about how to approach it, to work it. Each material has its little quirk, it doesn't react in the same way. You have to get into it, work it, caress it. And just because a material is very hard, very resistant, doesn't mean you should force it. You have to really work with the material to make it shine. Each brushed line is made to measure, the graining catches the light in the material and for me, machines can't do things like this.

(Rodeline meticulously polishes a bracelet made up of different metal surfaces.)

(On-screen text: Creating a matt effect by satin-brushing)

You can have 50 pieces, but each one is unique. If you can give a piece even more wow factor, you do it. I do a lot of touching up. It's quite normal that we have to touch up. Pieces are used, handled, picked up, screwed down, handed over, taken over there, put into trays... Accidents happen. I find it really satisfying to save pieces.

(On-screen text: Satin-brushing using a wooden stick coated with emery paper)

(Rodeline carefully buffs a spinning metal piece.)

Not being able to save a piece would be a failure, to have to call it a write-off. I always find a solution in the end. I can't see myself doing another job. I feel so good where I am. It's like a family. We're always glad to see each other. And it's so important, I think, to feel comfortable with the people around you.

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

"Today, the considerable dexterity I have acquired over time enables me to work on watch cases – which I receive in their rough state – in order to reveal the final radiance of the material while preserving the required geometry and aesthetics."

Rodeline, luxury Watch-Polishing Artisan

Rodeline, luxury Watch-Polishing Artisan

"I am a Watch-Polishing Artisan at Chopard. This skill is all about radiance and light and I have been passionately cultivating it since my apprenticeship, which I served in the Maison’s workshops 18 years ago."

Rodeline, luxury Watch-Polishing Artisan

Polishing is the art of highlighting. Revealing the shine, accentuating the radiance, drawing the gaze. When the luxury watch creations in our workshops appear almost finished, they are sent to Rodeline's workbench. This passionate Artisan joined our Maison in 2002 as an apprentice and the best in-house trainers transmitted their knowledge to her, along with the duty of performing meticulous craftsmanship. At the end of her years of training, Rodeline became a luxury Watch-Polishing Artisan for our Manufacture.

Using small lathes and polishing paste, she accesses even the smallest corners of each piece entrusted to her, in order to remove any roughness, scratches and dust. Everything must sparkle with a pristine appearance! Rodeline thereby endows all her creations with a very special luster. In addition to glowing brightly on the tray where she places them once she has completed her work, they bring a special sparkle to her own eyes, as she constantly imagines all those who will soon be reading the time on the watches she polishes.

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