Romain Jerome and its watch containing the Statue of Liberty

Romain Jerome is the brand that gives its watches a form of authenticity by putting rare materials into them. Examples include moondust and parts of the metal from an Apollo spacecraft, flakes of meteorite, and parts of the metal from the Titanic. The watches have a powerful design look, and they are powered by movements that are not made in-house.

The Liberty-DNA watch was released in 2014, and this year, appropriately on 4th July, a new black edition has been launched. Like its predecessory, the RJ-Romain Jerome Liberty-DNA Black contains fragments of the Statue of Liberty, obtained through a cooperation between the watch brand and a restoration project run by The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation and The Gold Leaf Corporation. The bezel, with its 12 spokes, is a design reference to the statue’s crown, with the spokes forming hour references. The hands are neatly framed by the central aperture. The dial below is the part containing copper from the statue, and in this version it is coloured grey (in the 2012 version the dial was green).

With black hands, and four clamps in black PVD-coated steel forming the X-motif that is a feature of Romain Jerome watches, this piece has something of the steampunk aesthetic that can be seen in much of the brand’s work. On the back, there is an engraving of the torch against the American flag, with the number of each piece in the edition limited to 125 watches.

The RH001-A automatic movement is probably made by Concepto, the Swiss company based in La Chaux-de Fonds that is developing an important positioning as an independent supplier of movements, in other words one of the few Swiss alternatives to ETA which is part of the Swatch Group. This movement provides minutes and hours; the watch is 46 mm in diameter, and it has a black hornback strap.

The price for the 2012 watch, which was also a limited edition, was $14,900, presumably the Liberty-DNA Black will be priced about the same. Click here to find boutiques stocking Romain Jerome watches.