Ebauche: Filling In The Blanks In Art And Stuhrling

Traditional oil paintings and internal watch mechanics: one might not at first think

the two rather different enterprises are intimately linked, but one particular concept binds them. The design stage, ebauche, is a pivotal step in both oil painting and horology. But what exactly is an ebauche?

This is a design term taken from the French, wherein it means a blank, outline, or sketch. In oil painting, this appropriation of the term is rather straightforward. Before embarking on the process of painting the actual work, a piece is first sketched on the canvas, an initial layer that lays out the template for the finished piece. In this way, an ebauche for oil painting is indeed a sketch or outline, directly in keeping with the source language. Of historical note is that when Impressionism came into vogue, a common complaint of the movement was that it attempted to bring the concept of an ebauche, otherwise a mere design stage, to the same prominence and importance as a "finished" painting. Though a subjective and ultimately unfounded complaint in the nebulous world of art and its development, such a complaint would have much greater validity in horology.

That's because the role that an ebauche plays in watchmaking is specifically a step along the way to a completed timepiece. A watch movement is an internal mechanic of a timepiece, and an ebauche refers to an as of yet unassembled watch movement, along with its constituent parts. In this way, it is less an outline, and more of a blank waiting to be filled in by order. Take a Stuhrling Winchester, for example: before it the stainless steel case can be connected, the skeletonized 3-hand movement has to be precisely assembled, driven by the Stuhrling watch mechanization within. Were the brand to offer a Sturhling Apocalypse watch to the public as an ebauche, a consumer would receive only a pile of unassembled springs and rotor material. This wouldn't even give the "impression" of the original Stuhrling watch. Though a tourbillon is an impressive piece of design, intended to attach to a watch escapement and counter the effects of gravity, the meaning of such a device is diminished when taken out of the context of a fully assembled watch.

A Stuhrling might be as finely crafted as an oil painting, and both rely on an ebauche, but a watch can never stop there. An ebauche is pretty to look at, whether it's an Impressionist painting or balance wheel, but one thing is for sure: an ebauche can't tell you what time it is.

by: Mark Etinger

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