Sartory-Billard has built much of its reputation on dials that feel personal, tactile and difficult to reproduce.
The new SB04-E Shanga continues that idea with a dial made from recycled Tanzanian glass, developed with the Shanga workshop in Arusha and finished through the brand’s established European dial-making network.
It’s a 100-piece limited edition, but the story is less about scarcity than about how an independent watchmaker can bring an unusual craft material into a mechanical watch without sanding away its character.
At a glance
- Sartory-Billard has released the SB04-E Shanga, a 100-piece limited edition with a Tanzanian recycled-glass dial.
- The blue glass dial is made with Shanga in Arusha, then cut and prepared by Groh & Ripp in Germany before assembly in France.
- The watch is priced at €4,800 excluding VAT, with €1,000 from each sale donated to Shanga’s artisan skills development programme.
A dial shaped by Shanga’s glass workshop
Shanga was founded in 2007 in Arusha, Tanzania, with a focus on recycled local materials and meaningful employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
The workshop produces jewellery and accessories, and its work with glass became the starting point for this watch.
The connection came through Elewana Collection founder and CEO Karim Wissanji, a Sartory-Billard collector whose travel and safari group supplies Shanga with recycled glass for its glasswork projects.
Wissanji suggested to Armand Billard that Shanga glass could become a watch dial, opening the door to a collaboration that sits neatly within Sartory-Billard’s dial-led approach to watchmaking.
Billard and his team spent a week at the workshop in Tanzania, working alongside master glass blowers Charles Kyalo Mulonzi and Simon Wahome Wanjohi, as well as the wider Shanga team.
Among them was Erick Mwashibanda, described as one of the few glassblowers in the country to have completed his training entirely in Tanzania.
Blue glass with a handwritten human trace
The dial uses a vibrant blue tone inspired by Sartory-Billard’s brand colours.
Its effect comes from pigment folded into the glass, creating ripples and swirls that give each surface a hand-worked, almost confectionery-like depth.
After the glass is produced in Tanzania, the material is sent to Groh & Ripp in Germany, Sartory-Billard’s long-term supplier for stone and hard-material dials.
There, it’s cut and prepared as watch dial blanks before moving to Sartory-Billard’s workshop in France for assembly.
The dial is given further personality through applied numerals based on handwritten numbers from people involved in the project.
Karim Wissanji and his sister wrote the 12, Sandra Ripp of Groh & Ripp wrote the 6, Armand Billard wrote the 11, designer Tiffany Bachelet wrote the 10, and the remaining numerals were created by Shanga’s master glassblowers and workshop team.
The central hour, minute and seconds hands are shaped like the tips of Maasai spears, while Shanga’s logo appears on the counterweight of the seconds hand.
The SB04-E case and movement
The watch is housed in a 39.5mm by 10.2mm steel case with alternating brushed and polished surfaces.
Inside is the La Joux-Perret G101A automatic movement, which offers a 68-hour power reserve and has been used across Sartory-Billard’s SB04-E references.
A solid caseback protects the movement and carries Shanga’s logo along with the workshop’s motto, “Be kind, recycle”.
That phrase is a concise fit for a project built around reused material, local craft and a cross-continental production chain that leaves the dial’s handmade quality visible.
Details & Specifications
| Brand | Sartory-Billard |
|---|---|
| Model | SB04-E Shanga |
| Case size | 39.5mm x 10.2mm |
| Case material | Steel |
| Dial | Blue recycled Tanzanian glass made with Shanga |
| Movement | La Joux-Perret G101A automatic |
| Power reserve | 68 hours |
| Hands | Central hours, minutes and seconds with Maasai spear-inspired shapes |
| Caseback | Solid caseback with Shanga logo and “Be kind, recycle” motto |
| Production | Limited edition of 100 pieces |
| Price | €4,800 excluding VAT, approximately £4,000 |
| Charitable contribution | €1,000 from each sale donated to Shanga’s artisan skills development programme |
The SB04-E Shanga should speak to collectors who value independent watchmaking with a visible human hand, especially those drawn to dials that carry more than decorative novelty.
For Sartory-Billard, it also looks like a natural extension of its custom dial practice, turning a new supplier relationship into a watch with a clear material story and a tangible contribution back to the workshop that made it possible.
