Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Skelet-One collection 2021

The Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Skelet-One is available in three new variants for 2021, each limited to just 28 pieces. With the advent of these new models, the high-end brand from La Chaux-de-Fonds has set aside its usual classical styling in favour of a bold, avant-garde design language.

Most human beings have a propensity to predict things. It is probably an inbuilt ability that dates back to the stone age when foreseeing a potential danger was imperative to survival.

When awaiting the launch of a new product, consumers will envision its composition based on past experience. Personally, when I hear the name Jaquet Droz, I immediately think of classical watches with off-centre hour and minute displays, enamel dials and sublime mechanical movements.

It was therefore surprising to see the images of the Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Skelet-One for the first time. Its design could best be described as avant-garde. While skeleton watches date back to the 18th century, this particular iteration looks futuristic.

The hour and minutes display is positioned off-centre, located in the upper part of the dial, and time is imparted with lancine hands, characteristics that will be familiar to many Jaquet Droz customers. However, the oversized seconds display, residing in the bottom half of the dial, ventures off-piste with its large seconds hand floating above a sapphire dial. It is the intelligent use of sapphire that augments the overall transparency of the composition. Furthermore, the slender spoke-like sections of the main plate afford brilliant front to rear views.

But this watch not only delivers style, it also proffers much substance. The movement is endowed with a slim, 18-carat white gold oscillating mass, granting sublime, unrestricted views of the barrels, gear train, keyless works and balance. The twin barrels collaborate to provide a power reserve of 68 hours. When compared with an index adjusted balance, the variable inertia balance fitted to this model provides superior shock resistance and precision, while mitigating the adverse influence of positional errors. A variable inertia balance is costlier to regulate, but far superior to the index adjusted alternative.

Modernity also extends to the appearance of the main plate and bridges which are suffused with a sultry black treatment. The balance spring and pallet horns are made from silicon, a cutting edge material that doesn’t corrode, remains unaffected by magnetism or temperature, has low frictional properties and can be formed into intricate shapes.

As if to reinforce the model’s contemporary persona, the 41.5mm case is formed of black ceramic or plasma ceramic depending on the model selected. The Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Skelet-One is available in three colourways with each version limited to just 28 pieces.

The brand’s press release (March 2021)

Sculptural, architectural and audacious, the Grande Seconde Skelet-One has, in only a matter of years, become an avant-garde ambassador for Jaquet Droz. An inherently modern and bold design which adds a new dimension to this so-called “skeleton” watchmaking creation.

Today, Jaquet Droz unveils three unique versions. Now iconic, its spirit remains unchanged: a large figure “8” formed by an entirely sapphire dial along with indexes and hands in 18K gold suspended above a brushed hours and minutes ring.

At 6 o’clock, the large seconds hand that soars over the sapphire creates the illusion that it is floating, while directly below the tiniest details of a hand-crafted movement can be admired. It is powered by a silicon balance spring and pallet lugs, a double barrel with nearly three days of power reserve (68 hours), including an openwork oscillating weight in 18K white gold which is nestled in the rim of the 41.5 mm case.

The Grande Seconde Skelet-One collection is enriched with three new variations: green, sky blue and yellow. Limited to only 28 pieces each, these new colour variations can be found on the handmade straps, the watch’s hands and each of the dial’s rail-track. The index and screws on both the green and sky blue versions are made from 18K white gold. For a contrasting effect, the hours and minutes ring as well as the case have been crafted from black ceramic.

The yellow version on the other hand plays with warmer tones. It is unique for its red gold index and screws, its white gold hours and minutes ring and its plasma ceramic case. Forged in a high temperature oven, the case is embellished with a metallic glow, avoiding the addition of any metal particles. This transformation in colour that occurs at a molecular level helps to maintain all the inherent properties of ceramic while simultaneously adding an optimal and harmonious chromatic contrast.

Dynamic, urban and firmly rooted in the 21st century, these three creations give a new lease of life to contemporary Fine Watchmaking. By revisiting the skeleton watch, Jaquet Droz recalls its perfect mastery and precious expertise.