New for 2013, the Jaquet Droz Grande Heure GMT watch.

I am already familiar and smitten by the Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde, which with its classic interlocking layout of sub-dials provides an uncluttered panorama.  But this Grande Heure GMT model presents a new plainness – only that which is necessary remains, resulting in a dial which although reduced to only its essential elements is both functional and exquisite.

The piece has just two hands, rose gold for local time and blued for indicating the second time zone.  These encircle a Grand Feu enamel dial of the utmost quality, marking the hours whose diminutive Arabic numeras have been painstakingly painted around the dial edge.

A traditional Grand Feu enamel dial is created using fine glass powders, which are laid onto metal before being oven-fired.  The extreme heat melts the ultra-fine powders.  The result, when successful is loupe-worthy perfection of the utmost purity and the craftsmen and women at Jaquet Droz are experts in the art of enamel dial-making, producing showcase dials  which are quite rightly featured throughout their portfolio.

Inside is the Jaquet Droz in-house automatic calibre 5N50.4 featuring a 22kt gold rotor which produces a power reserve of 68 hours.

The Jaquet Droz Grande Heure GMT is presented in a 43mm 18kt rose gold case, more details at the brand’s official website here.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This is the Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Off-Centred Ivory Enamel watch.  It features a dial made from shatterable, frangible, delicate, breakable enamel and to state that it’s creation demands the skills of an experienced and patient craftsman would be a vast understatement.

A traditional Grand Feu enamel dial is created using fine glass powders, which are laid onto metal before being oven-fired.  The extreme heat melts the ultra-fine powders.  The result, when successful is loupe-worthy perfection of the utmost purity.  Jaquet Droz are experts in the art of enamel dial-making – even so, I bet that the most experienced Artisans at the La Chaux-de-Fonds workshops have, on occasion had cause to mutter a few curses under their breath as another brittle sliver of enamel proves to be flawed and therefore useless.

The Grande Seconde Off-Centred Ivory Enamel featured here is just about as quirky as a Jaquet Droz timepiece can be.  It’s two interlocking dials which form the fortuitous number 8 are off-set and its winding crown is relocated to the 4 o’clock position.  Of course, the seconds dial still dominates with its wonderfully elongated slender hand, offering the wearer and envious on-looker a superb perspective of time.  The previously released Off-Centred Black Enamel edition had its logo positioned at 10 o’clock, perhaps to add balance to the atypical crown, not so with this model which positions it within the seconds dial leaving empty milky-white enamel aplenty with nothing to obscure it.

The Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Off-Centred Ivory Enamel is framed with a 43mm red gold case and is powered by the Jaquet Droz 2663A automatic movement with a double barrel producing 68 hours of power reserve.

More?  Our archives feature reviews, and more importantly nice big drool-worthy images of some of the best Jaquet Droz timepieces.

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Popularity: 2% [?]

New for 2012 is the Jaquet Droz Eclipse Onyx.

In a display case full of technically accomplished timepieces constructed from cutting-edge materials and containing every conceivable complication, a Jaquet Droz watch will stand alone.  Theirs are timepieces which are almost mythical in their perfection – enough already?  The WatchPress feels no shame – we love this brand.  In an industry where the boundaries of what can be achieved within the confines of a watchcase are continually challenged, we find the simple elegance of a Jaquet Droz uplifting.

Worthy of the portfolio, this one has a dial constructed from onyx, housed in a generous 43mm trim-bezeled steel case.  Naturally the eye is at once drawn to the celestial scene of the moonphase and its ensemble of stars.  This is a moon face with an appearance which is almost as humanistic as the renowned Automatons which have gained so much publicity for the brand recently, but is a wonderfully playful arrangement as it peeps out from behind a perfect little moving disc.

A seductive serpentine hand encircles the dial to indicate the date, recessed twin apertures display the day and month and the hour and minute hands are suitably slender.  This is dial devoid of hour numerals ensuring an abundance of empty onyx which simply begs to be admired.  Inside is the Jaquet Droz Calibre 6553LZ with 68 hours of power reserve.

The Jaquet Droz Eclipse Onyx comes presented on a black alligator leather strap.

More? View our archive of exquisite and flawless Jaquet Droz timepieces

Popularity: 2% [?]

This is the Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Dragon Majestic Beijing, a piece designed to celebrate the Chinese New Year.  Timepieces produced by Jaquet Droz have a few common features – each piece is flawless, each is exquisite, each is an art form and somewhere in each collection is the fortuitous number 8.  Many pieces in the brand’s portfolio feature interlocking subdials which form a subtle figure of eight, some like the Petite Heure Minute Dragon form part of the Numerous Clausus collection and are produced in limited numbers from 8 to 88.  No suprise then that this piece, designed for the Chinese marketplace is a limited edition of just 88 pieces.  You may never get to see this watch – but if you do, you’ll remember it, it’s a miniature masterpiece.

The off-centred hours and minutes subdial leaves lots of dial space for the richly coloured scene of two dragons having a furious fighting face-off over a pearl.  The dial has been created with the traditional Grand Feu enamelling technique, a pure backdrop for the quite stunning artwork and the trim bezel of the rose gold case provides a perfect frame.

Inside is the in-house automatic JD 2653 Calibre with 68 hours of power reserve and the case measures 43mm across.  The Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Dragon comes presented on a hand-stitched brown alligator strap and will be a limited edition of 88 pieces worldwide-(ish).

Other Jaquet Droz articles you might like …..

The Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Quantième

The Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Ceramic Mother-of-Pearl

The Tourbillon Jaquet Droz

Popularity: 2% [?]

Almost every watch manufacture in the business have at least one piece somewhere in their portfolio which was not well received, one that didn’t quite come up to standard – an achilles’ heel.  Not so with Jaquet Droz.  Every piece they produce is an art form.  Every piece is exceptional.

The Grande Seconde dial has been synonymous with the Jaquet Droz name since it was first created in 1785.  The hours and minutes appear off-centred at 12 o’clock with a large seconds subdial at 6 o’clock, the two interlock to form the fortuitous number 8.  Around both indications is plenty of dial space framed by an extra thin bezel.  A pure and unique design, highly legible, instantly recognisable and one which Swatch wisely chose not to mess with when they aquired Jaquet Droz in 2001.

New for 2011 is the Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Quantième.  This is the first time that the brand have introduced a steel watchcase to enclose the Grande Seconde dial and is the premier of two stunning black dials, one of which features fine-brushed finishing on the indications and one which is almost completely ebonized.  A red varnished tip on the pointer hand of the date indication contrasts with these new dials which have been created using an innovative process whereby the metal dial is hand-dipped into a chemical bath until perfection is achieved.

Also available is an opaline dial, silvery white with contrasting blued steel hands.  Inside these remarkable pieces is the Jaquet Droz 266OQZ, a self-winding calibre with two barrels providing a power reserve of 68 hours.  The pieces are each presented on a hand crafted black alligator leather strap.

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Tourbillon Jaquet Droz

Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Ceramic Mother of Pearl

Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Minute Repeater

Popularity: 2% [?]

Sometimes words fail me.  Sometimes when I write an article to describe a watch I need to keep it short, for fear of publishing drooling drivel because I love it too much.  The Grande Seconde Ceramic Mother-of-Pearl is such a watch – so this will be brief.

You might already be familiar with Jaquet Droz.  The brand creates exquisite peerless pieces.  La Grande Seconde is a symbolic part of their portfolio, an instantly recognisable collection with two off-centred overlapping subdials, the larger of which counts the seconds.  Nothing receives the Jaquet Droz marque unless it is flawless, so as you’d expect when ceramic was introduced by the brand in 2008, it was ceramic of the highest quality.  Extra fine grains of zirconium oxide powder used in its creation ensure a finish of the utmost purity and toughness.

New to the collection is the Grande Seconde Ceramic with mother-of-pearl dial.  It has a lustrous glossy white ceramic watchcase, an ethereal mother-of-pearl dial animated by a whisker-slim red lacquer seconds hand and it comes presented on a white rubber strap – a white rubber strap which is set with two pairs of diamonds ………  I should stop now.

Popularity: 2% [?]

New for 2011 is the unique and distinctive Tourbillon Jaquet Droz.

If the after-dinner chit chat comes around to wristwatches and you’re wearing a Jaquet Droz – relax, you’ll be the head honcho.  Turn back your cuff and enjoy the hushed reverence.  A Jaquet Droz watch is indeed a beautiful thing, opulent but not in an ostentatious look-at-me way.  The brand’s portfolio has one of the most recognisable “faces” in the business, two off-centred subdials overlapping to form the fortuitous number 8.  La Grande Seconde is a symbolic part of the portfolio, so-named because the lower and larger of the two subdials counts the seconds.  The Tourbillon Jaquet Droz reverses the layout with the seconds subdial positioned below 12 o’clock.  The tourbillon is set within the seconds counter and features a remarkable distinction – the tourbillon carriage is made from sapphire crystal.

Sapphire crystal is also used to frame the double ring around the subdials, its transparency particularly evident where the two overlap on the black matt Côtes de Genève dial shown above.

Two editions are available, 18 carat white gold case with black dial or 18 carat rose gold with a hand crafted enameled dial.  The hands are 18 carat gold to match the case, the seconds hand is blued steel and case diameter is 43mm.  Inside is the Jaquet Droz 25JD automatic tourbillon movement with 18 carat oscillating weight viewable through the sapphire case back.  The piece comes presented on a hand crafted alligator leather strap with 18 carat gold folding clasp.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Jaquet Droz unveil a new addition to their portfolio, the Grande Seconde Minute Repeater.

Pierre Jaquet Droz (1721-1790) was a creator and purveyor of fine watches to the Kings of Europe and beyond and the modern day Jaquet Droz brand, now part of the Swatch Group, takes inspiration from the techniques used by the founder to manufacture an exclusive collection of contemporary pieces.

The Minute Repeater is an ingenious complication which sounds the hours, quarter-hours and the minutes and the ability to reproduce the mechanisms required to operate it within the confines of a wristwatch case requires master watchmaking skills of the highest order.

The Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Minute Repeater

The Grande Seconde Minute Repeater features the classic Jaquet Droz dial layout with the hours and minutes off-centred at 12 o’clock and large seconds sub-dial at 6 o’clock, the two interlocking to form a figure of 8.  Grand Feu enamelling of the dial, another feature synonymous of this brand, results in a finish of the utmost purity and this together with the extra trim red gold watch case edge creates an impression of plainless which belies the sophisticated interior of this superlative watch.  The  piece is powered by the Jaquet Droz 2635 Minute Repeater self-winding movement with power reserve of 48 hours.

Forming part of the “Numerus Clausus” collection, the Grande Seconde Minute Repeater will be a limited release of 28 pieces.

Popularity: 3% [?]