Horological Meandering

RayStantzPhD
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To be even more precise, there was an actual pocket watch from around 1785...

... that featured this dial layout with a big second indication and that figure 8 design, most probably at least partly also for the reasons stated above. It is remarkable in many ways, because at that time "accuracy to the second" was not known from pocket watches. The unusual complication "second indication" was therefor daring, or in case of J*D, a bit showing off because they produced very high quality not just in terms of finissage, but also chronometric. Not because they did revolutionary chronometric inventions, but they were really well informed about the trends and technical developments in Paris and London, and very quick in adopting modern techniques, plus they just had high craftsmanship and precision capability, which in these days was key to possible dramatic rate improvements.
The other reason this was remarkable is that they were so well informed about the market in China, so aware and clever as businessmen, not just watchmakers, to come up with such a design on purpose. Imagine how "far away" Asia was for someone in the 18th century in the Jura mountains of Switzerland... heck, when I am there today I feel isolated, it's so rural. However they were so cosmopolitan, the trade relations despite months or years of delivery times without ever seeing or reading the end customer, were so developed. Pierre Jaquet-Droz himself used to travel a lot and promote his works actively. It is truly mind-blowing.
All this was stopped of course for decades when the French Revolution hit big and the aristocratic watch customers found themselves beheaded in a basket :|
To answer the next question: yes, I am a bit of a fan of J*D )))