Work that is never discussed.
An engraving atelier for private clients who value the result and the silence around it in equal measure. Hand cutting, precision laser work, and restoration for pieces that cannot be replaced.
A small studio, deliberately.
One bench, one engraver, and a number of commissions each year that can be counted without a ledger. Work is not subcontracted, batched out, or handed to an apprentice when the schedule tightens.
The pieces that come here tend to be irreplaceable: an armorial signet that has been worn by four generations, a caseback from a watch that was a retirement gift, an accession mark on an object a museum has waited thirty years to acquire.
That kind of work does not scale, and we have never tried to make it.
Discretion is not a service we offer. It is the condition on which the studio operates.
What the studio does
Five disciplines. Most commissions draw on more than one.
Hand Engraving
Bright-cut ornament, monograms, crests and armorials cut by hand in precious metal and steel.
ContinueLaser Engraving
Fibre laser marking to micron tolerances for movements, medical components and serialised parts.
ContinueRestoration & Repair
Recutting worn ornament, filling and reworking damage, and matching the hand of an engraver long dead.
ContinueSeal & Signet Work
Intaglio seal matrices, signet bezels and armorial rings cut in reverse for impression in wax.
ContinueInstitutional & Collection Marking
Discreet accession marking, security identification and inventory work for museums, estates and private collections.
ContinueCut, not burned.
A hand-cut line has a mirror floor and two sharp walls. Held to the light it flares and goes dark as the piece turns, because it is a facet rather than a scar. A laser mark, however fine, is a discoloration or an ablated trough. It does not do that.
This is not a point of snobbery. It is the whole reason to pay for hand work, and the reason we will tell you plainly when your piece is better served by the laser instead.
Heirloom first, ornament second.
Depth is decided by what the piece will endure. Surface ornament on a display object can sit at four hundredths of a millimetre. A signet bezel that will be worn daily for fifty years and polished a dozen times is cut deep with steep walls, so it still reads when the wearer's grandchild inherits it.
Every commission is quoted with its intended life in mind, and that is a question we ask before we ask about budget.
Materials we work
Each metal has a temper of its own. Knowing it is most of the job.
Precious Metals
Silver, gold and platinum, each with its own temper under the graver.
Watch Cases
Casebacks, lugs and bezels, on pieces where a slip is not recoverable.
Firearms Furniture
Actions, furniture and fittings, in the English and Continental traditions.
Timepieces & Movements
Bridges, rotors and plates, at the scale where a loupe is not optional.
Fine Instruments
Silver keywork, mouthpieces and fittings on instruments that are worked every day.
The discretion promise
This is the part most studios describe in a sentence. We describe it in a page, because it is the reason most of our clients are here.
- Mutual non-disclosure signed before any commission begins
- No client names, ever, in any form or conversation
- No portfolio of identifiable client work, online or in the studio
- Unmarked packaging and unbranded correspondence
- Records destroyed on handover unless the client asks otherwise
- New clients accepted by referral only
- 1998Studio established
- 40Commissions accepted each year
- 0.04 mmWorking depth tolerance
- ReferralThe only route to a first appointment
Work begins with a conversation.
The studio takes a limited number of commissions each quarter. Enquiries are read by the engraver, not by an assistant.
Request an appointmentRead the discretion policy