The year 2017 saw Jaquet Droz launch an impressive series of innovations that have reached their peak with the release of the Jaquet Droz Loving Butterfly Automaton and, towards the end of the year, with the release of the Tropical Bird Repeater, of which the manufacture recently uploaded a video on to their official channel. The 2018 starts again from the Grande Seconde collection and from a preview that is a tiny preamble to what the brand will present this year. There are no teasers within the new collections but they 280–year–anniversary that will be celebrated this year is a “serious” milestone to mark and there is no doubt that Jaquet Droz will present something memorable in Basel. It is hard to think of anything that could possibly be more precious than the Tropical Bird Repeater, but chances are that the manufacture has already conceived something prestigious some years ago in preparation for this occasion.
While we are still waiting for the next novelty, Jaquet Droz already gave a new look to their Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Moon; one of the brand’s most successful watches. I touched it for the first time with my very own hands, while I was in the small parlor of the Jaquet Droz booth in Basel; this complicated timepiece has since then become one of the brand’s most read articles on the pages of our Horbiter® magazine. The beauty secret of a Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Moon lies in the special balance that the brand’s designers have achieved between the “almost perfect” moon (that is precise for at least 122 years and 46 days) and the gold ring of the calendar with a hand crafted on a white base and then enameled using the Grand Feu technique. It is actually the Grand Feu – an ancient technique of which Jaquet Droz is one of the greatest (and few) modern interpreters – that represents the biggest surprise.
The Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Moon Black Enamel will soon be available with a black double-layer enamel dial paired with the classic satin ring made of 18–carat–red–gold (like the case), the applied stars in gold and the moon in 22–carat–gold inserted on a disk in black onyx. All the other features remain unchanged, the case maintains its current 43mm size and the caliber is exactly the same as the one hidden within the Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Moon; an automatic movement with a silicon balance spring and up to 68 hours of power reserve. Unlike its brother with an ivory-colored Grand Feu dial, the Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Moon Black Enamel is an extremely elegant complicated timepiece to wear for an evening out. The retail price has not been announced yet, but I reckon that it will either equal or near the €30,000 retail price of the first Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Moon in red gold (unless changes to the 2017 price list will take place).
(Photo credit: courtesy of Jaquet Droz)
Gaetano C @Horbiter®
