If ever there was a flash of genius, it was the Grande Seconde by Pierre Jaquet-Droz. Just why he created that incredibly modern pocket watch in 1784 remains a lost secret, but there is no doubt that it remains a masterpiece of design, with the eye captured by the oversize seconds hand, and the smaller…
In 2017, Jaquet Droz gave its principal watch design, the Grande Seconde, one of the most popular complications of the year, the moon phase display in the Grande Seconde Moon. It is a so-called astronomical moon phase, exact to one day’s discrepancy every 122 years. By way of comparison, the traditional mechanism based on a…
The Grande Seconde Quantième Satin-Brushed by Jaquet Droz is yet another model based on the Grande Seconde watch that Pierre Jaquet-Droz created in 1784, towards the end of his life. That piece had just hours and minutes above, and seconds on the larger subdial below. This new version is more modern in design, and combines…
The inspiration for this Jaquet Droz watch came from a sketch made by Henri-Louis Jaquet-Droz (Pierre’s son), for an automaton of a cherub on a chariot drawn by a butterfly. From 1768 to 1774, Pierre and Henri-Louis created some extraordinary automata, such as The Writer (a boy who dips a pen into an inkwell and…
Back in the 18th century, Pierre Jaquet-Droz became famous in the royal and imperial courts of Europe and far beyond for his amazing automatons. The Writer, for example, was a seated boy who could actually dip a real quill into real ink and write something on a real piece of paper. The Charming Bird by…
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…
When you are designing an entry-level three-hand watch, the question is, what can we do differently? Setting it apart from all the other three-hand watches on the market? In the Grande Heure Minute Quantième, Jaquet Droz provide their own answer, and the outstanding visual feature is the date window. The actual window is the customary…
Two new versions of the Eclipse, a watch that Jaquet Droz introduced in 2010. It’s a timepiece that has all the Jaquet Droz DNA: a symmetrical dial designed to be uncluttered, leaving as much free surface as possible, and a few quirky touches such as the wiggly hand showing the date and the unusual system…
This watch by Jaquet Droz is an interesting way of creating a limited edition. Each series, one in red gold and one in white gold with diamonds, consists of eight pieces, like eight frames from a film, showing a butterfly as it flits across the flowers. It recalls the multiple images created by Eadweard Muybridge…
Three koi carp are swimming in a pool amidst lotus flowers and rushes, and the fish are depicted using layers of translucent blue enamel creating an effect of depth, almost an optical illusion. While the fish and their shadows are shown realistically in this Jaquet Droz piece, the other elements on the dial are stylized,…
Classic Jaquet Droz: the 8 symbology in the shape of the case, and the automation that enables a lotus flower in the top part of the case to open and close at the push of a button, revealing a diamond at the centre. While the Lady 8 series by Jaquet Droz (shown at right in…
Several fashion designers have become the subject of movies: Isaac Mizrahi (Unzipped, 1995), Karl Lagerfeld (Lagerfeld Confidential, 2007), Valentino Garavani (Valentino: The Last Emperor, 2008), Coco Chanel (Coco before Chanel, 2009), Yves Saint Laurent (Saint Laurent, 2014), Martin Margiela (The Artist is Absent, 2015), and Raf Simons (Dior and I, 2015). Not to mention Devil…
We have just begun the year of the goat (19 February 2015-7 February 2016), and several watch brands have launched goat watches thinking specifically of the Chinese market. While I can understand this, to be honest these goat watches are so far removed from the brands’ habitual style that they may seem more of a marketing…
The Grande Seconde series of watches by Jaquet Droz is based on a pocket watch that brand founder Pierre Jaquet-Droz completed in 1784, with two intersecting dials, the larger subdial below for the seconds. It was a brilliant and quirky piece of design, and it is not clear why Pierre made the seconds dial so…
Both Jaeger-LeCoultre and Jaquet Droz have presented women’s watches using versions of orange aventurine or sunstone for the dial. Aventurine is a quartz mineral with inclusions that give it a glistening effect. Van Cleef & Arpels used the blue variety of aventurine in the Midnight Planétarium and the Lady Arpels Heures Filantes, in which the…
Jaquet Droz watches often have a large dial with time indications on two decentred dials and a lot of blank space around them where there is nothing going on, as in the Grande Seconde Quantième Ivory Enamel. In other models, they have the same type of decentred dial, and a lot of space around it…
This article on the best minute repeater watches 2014 looks at timepieces that tell the time by chimes as well as by the usual hour and minute hands. They are complicated and very expensive. They are nearly always limited editions because, even though the luxury market continues to thrive and the number of millionaires in…
This article on the best perpetual calendar watches 2015 look at these challenging timepieces, which require a lot of movement development. A lot of information has to be displayed, and at certain moments, a lot of energy has to be available to change several indications at once. For example, at midnight on 31st December, day,…
There are some lucky watch brands that, to find new inspiration for a watch, only have to open the pages of their archives or brand museum and take a look. Jaquet Droz is a good example. The brand was founded by Pierre Jacquet-Droz (1721-1790), a brilliant watchmaker who became famous in part for his watches,…
The 2014 version of the Grande Seconde SW by Jaquet Droz is a good example of how this watch brand has used one of its historic motifs, bringing it into our design-oriented present. The sporty Grande Seconde SW had alreay been introduced in 2008, and this year, three new versions have been launched, in which…