Wood lacquering: the secret of Luxury Grandfather Clocks

Wood lacquering is that very fine line that differentiates a simple piece of furniture from a work of art that can leave you breathless. Without a refined painting phase, the Grandfather Clock appears incomplete and unattractive and doesn’t give a relevant visual impact. One of our main purposes is to make the wood lacquering one of the elements that can differentiate our works. To reach this goal, we have a secret: water-based paint, an innovative method to make the wood lacquering the real touch of class of our Grandfather Clocks.

Let us take example from the processing of one of our masterpieces, the classic model SZR.50. This Grandfather Clock consists of 2 distinct parts, both finely carved and richly detailed: in the “head” there are 3 cherubs, who jealously guard the circular dial. The “case” is typical to the elegance of the Rococo and it’s decorated with flowers and leaves.

The phase of wood lacquering with water-based paint begins with a first, generic and undefined lack coat of the colour that we decide. The work is then dried completely.

The real wood lacquering is the most delicate and important phase of the entire processing: generally, it starts after just 24 hours from the first generic painting. At the end of this phase there will be some extremely dark areas; other areas, however, will be lighter due to the scarceness of the colour. In this case, the recommended process that we implement is called “sanding”. This process acts on the parts where the lacquer is more abundant, to make the painting perfectly uniform.

This process is repeated several times, until the effect is satisfactory to the expert eye of the painter. The wood lacquering of our Grandfather Clocks provides particularly long processing times to achieve the optimal final effect.

Even the last brush stroke is particularly important during this processing: it’s a light and almost imperceptible veiling of colour that covers the scarcest points and highlights the precious details of the Grandfather Clock. We can say that it’s this last brush stroke that differentiates a traditional piece of furniture from a beautiful work of art, worthy of the greatest Italian Renaissance artists.

When our customers ask us for a Grandfather Clock, we know that one of their needs will concern the intact maintenance of the piece over time: especially when the clock is rich of details, as in the example by our SZR.50, it’s easy that the dust settles between the different points of the wood. Therefore, to conclude the wood lacquering phase of our works, we add an acrylic finish, non-yellowing, which protects the Grandfather Clock from dust and gives lustre and brilliance to the work of art.

Look at the details of our SZR.50 and its perfect wood lacquering: for this beautiful Grandfather Clock we use a hint of blond walnut and a so-called “black dark brown”, ideal to create a sense of depth. The final effect is extremely refined in every detail and gives new life to the living room where the Grandfather Clock is placed.

We hope you enjoyed our journey around the fascinating world of wood lacquering. You can admire the details of our Grandfather Clocks in the e-commerce catalogue. If you want more information, don’t hesitate to contact us!