There have been all sorts of strange and unusual materials used in watchmaking, and Jaquet Droz have discovered yet another: eggshell. The elephant depicted on the dial is created using tiny pieces of quails’ eggs, in their natural colours ranging from light beige to brown-grey. The technique originates from Vietnam, and the motif, an elephant against a backdrop of paddy fields, is also quintessentially Asian.

The model chosen for this piece is the existing Petite Heure Minute, in its 43 mm version, whose black onyx dial for the hour and minutes indications provide an interesting contrast to the pictorial scene. After the mosaic is assembled on the red gold dial – a pocess that takes about 200 hours – it is coated with transparent lacquer. The case is in red gold, and it contains the in-house Jaquet Droz 2653 self-winding movement running at 28,800 vph, which provides a power reserve of 68 hours.

The elephant also apears on the red gold oscillating weight visible through the sapphire caseback. Also on this side of the watch is the number of the limited edition: just eight pieces will be produced.

Reference:

The Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Mosaic Elephant is reference J005033280.