Romain Jerome’s first skeleton piece Skylab was launched in 2014, a piece with horizontal bridges inspired by the space station (MB&F’s watch HM6 Space Pirate, on the other hand, was inspired by an imaginary Japanese manga space station). This year, it is presented in a larger 48 mm version, but with a slimmer case. The sapphire glasses front and back reveal the RJ004-M movement, a modified Concepto calibre, with the mainspring barrel at the top, balance wheel at the bottom, continuous seconds at 9 o’clock, with all the gears in the train visible, virtually a textbook illustration of how a watch works. Finish is lovely, with skeletonized hands terminating in triangular tips with blue SuperLuminova, touches of colour provided by the 21 rubies, and small bolts with recessed cross holding everything together. It is made in two versions, Speed Metal which contains some steel from the Apollo 11 spacecraft and has a black PVD-coated finish, and Red, in red gold. The two series are limited editions, 99 pieces each.
The hand-wound movement runs at 4 Hertz, 28,800 vph, and has a power reserve of 48 hours. The mainspring itself is in view and so functions as an empirical power reserve indicator. The case is water-resistant to 30 metres. Below, the red gold version:
References and prices
The Skylab 48 Speed Metal, reference RJ.M.AU.030.01, is a 99 –piece limited edition, and it costs 16,950 Swiss francs, €18,950, US$ 20,950. The Skylab 48 Red, with bezel and back bezel in red gold, reference RJ.M.AU.031.02, 99 pieces, costs 23,950 Swiss francs, €26,500, US$ 29,500.
Skylab 3, image courtesy of NASA
