Enamel's presence at Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Hermes isn't a heritage decision. These big jewelry houses use the technique because the vivid, graphic color it enables cannot be replicated through gemstones.
Elemental Detail
The colors in 14kt multitone jewelry change. The gold content doesn't. Each alloy zone, whatever its color, maintains the same 58.3% pure gold by weight, because karat is about purity, not appearance.
Industry Insight
A Latin cross pendant depicts the unadorned cross form and carries meaning across devotional and non-devotional contexts; a crucifix adds a three-dimensional figure of Christ and is explicitly devotional. The distinction is important when choosing a piece, so that the symbolism will match the wearer's intention.