News Central

J*D Basel 2007 La Date Astrale

 

Here is the Official Press release:


In a masterful reinterpretation of solar and lunar magic, Jaquet Droz launches La date Astrale, a new watch with a retrograde date complication symbolizing hope and new beginings.

Since the 18th century,  the magnificent creations of Manufacture Jaquet Droz have figured as consummate expressions of the watchmaker's art.  Its founder Pierre Jaquet Droz amazed the courts of Europe with his stupefying mechanical figures and presented his timepieces to Marie-Antoinette, queen of France.  Today, this fabulous heritage continues to inspire the Manufacture's ingious craftsmen in La-Chaux de Fonds.

But history, like time and human genius, never stops.  In honour of its third manufacture, opened in 1784 in Geneva,  Jaquet Droz announces the launch of La Date Astrale, an exclusive new model with a retrograde date function.  The superlative modernity, design and mechanical performance of this exceptional watch give it distinctive boldness.  Yet, at the same time, it remains true to brand codes.

This black opaline dial with a satin finish is adorned by the sun,  elected by Louis XIV as his royal symbol.  Located slightly off-centre, the heart of the sun is concealed by the hours -minutes subdial.  The Roman numerals have the sleek, self-assured elegance of values certain of their ability to trascend time.

La Date Astrale is endowed with a date retrograde complication, with a diamond pointer to indicate the date as time goes by.  In a poetic dialogue between day and night, indused with hope and renewal, the astral diamond resurrects the first day of the month at midnight, twelve times a year.  This is an implicit ptomise by the Manufacure from La Chaux de Fonds, a vow and a vocation, to start anew for each creation and win over the connoisseur once again.  A promise sealed with the secret clover leaf signature.

To win the connoisseur's confidence, Jaquet Droz mobilises all of its technical and creative forces, starting with the self-winding mechanical movement, the smooth=polished steel case finished by hand, the cambered crystal and the engraved crown.  It's as if, in making La Date Astral, the craftsmen at Jaquet Droz had but a single obsession: to combine the maginc of celestial bodies with the hope engendered by the rebirth of each month.  As if they were echoing the words of Aristotle, uttered over two thousnad years ago:" Hope is a waking dream." This message has been edited by mkt33 on 2007-04-12 17:51:16 This message has been edited by MTF on 2007-04-12 20:03:18