My Father's Silver
Two reticulated sterling silver dial blanks
The first line

My Father’s Silver

Reticulated sterling, vitreous enamel and etched meteorite. No message and no image — only the material, the fire, and how far both will go before the piece is lost.

Materials

Three grounds, and what each one costs to get right

Two reticulated sterling dial blanks
01

Reticulated sterling

Depletion-fired five or six times to bring fine silver to the surface, then one pass with the torch held until the skin moves and the core stays solid. Pull a second late and the blank is gone. The pattern cannot be repeated, specified or ordered again.

A dial circle scribed onto reticulated sheet
02

Vitreous enamel

Ground glass sifted over silver and fired at around 1450℃, three to six coats, stoned flat between each. Opaque white and black for a portrait ground; transparent colour when the metal underneath should still read through.

An etched meteorite dial blank
03

Etched meteorite

Sliced thin from an iron meteorite and etched in acid until the Widmanstätten pattern lifts — a crystal structure that took millions of years to cool and cannot form on earth. Every slice cuts a different figure.

Colour is mood

Silver will take any colour you give it

Reticulated silver is a neutral ground with a surface that catches light from every angle. Put transparent colour over it and the ridges do the rest — the same dial reads formal in oxblood, old-world in bottle green, and reckless in chartreuse. The metal does not change. The mood does.

So the colour is the last thing we decide together, and the easiest thing to be specific about. Bring me a colour and I will find its version on silver.

Two reticulated dials worn side by side — one bronze, one bright citron
A deep red reticulated dial in a polished steel case on black leather
Oxblood Warm, closed, formal. The texture goes almost lacquered under red.
A deep green reticulated dial in a gold case on tan leather
Bottle green Green over gold reads older than it is — library, not garden.
A lime and chartreuse dial in a steel diver case, photographed in direct sun
Chartreuse The loudest thing I make. In sun the ridges throw their own shadows.
Two watches worn together — a bronze-toned reticulated dial and a bright yellow one
Bronze and citron Two dials, one sheet of silver. Only the colour is different.
A luminous cyan dial in a steel case on grey suede
Glacier Cool and lit from inside; the silver underneath is doing the work.
An uncoloured reticulated silver dial on a steel bracelet
None at all Bare reticulation, no colour. This is the ground every other dial starts from.
My Father’s Silver · finished pieces

On the wrist, where it has to hold up

Every one of these is a silver-line dial — photographed as it is, on the arm, in whatever light was in the room.

A gold-fired reticulated dial, blued hands, on suede at the bench
Fired reticulation Depletion-gilt sterling · blued hands · suede
A turquoise enamelled reticulated dial on a steel bracelet
Transparent enamel Enamel over reticulated silver · steel bracelet
A bare reticulated silver dial in a dive case on a jubilee bracelet
The bare reticulated silver diver on its jubilee bracelet, close
Bare sterling Unplated reticulation · rotating bezel Hover for a second view
A small turquoise enamel dial on grey suede
The turquoise enamel dial on a blush leather strap, a river valley below
Enamel, 36mm Fired in stages · grey suede Hover for a second view
A gold reticulated dial worn indoors
The gold reticulated dial on a navy lizard strap
The same dial, other light Reticulation reads differently every hour Hover for a second view
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By inquiry only

Tell me what it should carry. I will tell you what the silver can do.

One piece at a time, so the list is short and the wait is honest. Write with a subject, a photograph, or only a direction.

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