Horological Meandering

New Jaquet Droz Watches

 

While SIHH is primarily a showcase for the Richemont family of brands, along with some larger independent brands like Richard Mille and Audemars Piguet, there are a number of other brands that make appearances in Geneva to capture attention from the attending press and retail participants. I had the pleasure of spending an hour with Swatchgroup brand Jaquet Droz at their Cité du Temps facility right on the river, seeing some brand new watches as well as some of the 2011 novelties which are only showing up in retail channels now. Fabien Dutriaux, Area Sales Manager for Switzerland, and Marc Aellen, Head of Sales, were wonderful hosts and they had a bushel full of exciting watches on hand for me to photograph.

Please note that all watches were all covered by a protective plastic layer.

First, to review some of the 2011 novelties, there are some variations on the Grande Seconde SW theme, with ceramic now incorporated into the bezel and blue accents on the hands and dial:

Titanium cases with carbon fiber dials were next up, first with rose gold accents on the lugs, hands, crown guard, and surround:


and with a ceramic bezel and red accents;


Note that the finish of the carbon fiber is different on these two latter watches, with a muted matte finish on the rose watch, and shiny finish on the ceramic.

I had only seen the silver dial Grande Seconde Quantieme in 2011, one of the best values of the year, so it was nice to finally see one of the two black dial models in person:


The plastic covering and light made it hard to capture the beauty of this watch correctly. Once you see it in person you too will be charmed by it.

Jaquet Droz introduced a new case size in 2011, with a 35 mm Petite Heure Minute for ladies. The two watches on hand were the stainless steel case with aventurine dial:


and the diamond-set white gold mother of pearl dial:


The final “old” watch I saw was the red gold minute repeater, limited to 28 pieces, and featuring an enamel dial:


The movement is beautifully finished:


The Jaquet Droz watches that I am most attracted to are the one featuring stone dials. These first two are limited to 88 pieces and have 43 mm red gold cases. The Grande Seconde with Bronzite dial:


and the Grande Date with Lapis Lazuli and mother of pearl dial:


As much as I like the iconic Grande Seconde designs, when it comes to stone dials I prefer the designs like the Grande Date and the Petite Heure Minute because they show more of the stone. Take, for instance, this unique watch, with a ruby's heart stone that has been cut to showcase the stone's symmetrical hexagonal pattern along the 12-6 axis:


This was my favorite watch of all the ones I saw.

Jaquet Droz is now producing a number of unique stone dial Grande Seconde watches in 39 mm cases. This first one is Feder Agate, with a mother-of-pearl:


Cuprite with mother-of-pearl:


Jadite with mother-of-pearl:


There is also a version with 88 diamonds set in the surround, as in this Misty Mountain model:


which is also available in a unique watch without the diamonds in the surround.

No doubt there will be more beautiful and surprising novelties in store for us at the upcoming Basel fair. If you have any questions about any of these watches please let me know and I will follow up with Jaquet Droz.

Bill Lind


This message has been edited by WHL on 2012-02-01 04:48:37 This message has been edited by WHL on 2012-02-01 07:54:54