There is something special about Jaquet Droz. It’s clean, it’s instantly recognizable, and it mixes traditional finishes and styles with a slightly modern sensibility. While several variations of this model have been created over the years, this is the first time that the brand presents a sapphire dial integrated within a skeleton composition and it is not a coincidence that such stylistic turning point is happening on occasion of the 280th anniversary of the Swiss watchmaker.
This new iteration, the Grande Seconde Skelet-One, keeps the core tenets of the design while taking the watch in a totally new direction. The openwork movement offers an unobstructed view of its striking architecture while preserving the figure “8” shape that is its aesthetic signature, with the hours and minutes counter at 12 o’clock intertwined with the large seconds counter at 6 o’clock.
At 12 o’clock, the hours and minutes turn around a sapphire hour ring, set on a base of gold. The ensemble is held together by five indexed screws, oriented in a chosen direction. Used for the first time by Jaquet Droz, this procedure was derived from an existing armory system and adapted by the brand’s technical teams. The hours and minutes hands are leaf-shaped. The thin large seconds hand is balanced with a round counterweight. These are fashioned out of gold or blued steel depending on the versions.
The Grande Seconde Skelet-One is powered by the hand-assembled Calibre 2663 SQ equipped with silicon double barrel, balance spring and pallet horns. Beating at 4 Hz (28,800 vph), it offers 68 hours of power reserve.
Skelet-One come in red gold, white gold or a ceramic case. Its case measures 41mm x 12.30 mm for the gold versions and is slightly larger for the ceramic version at 41.5mm x 12.48 mm, with prices of Swiss Francs 34,600 for the gold versions or Swiss Francs 24,850 in ceramic. jaquet-droz.com