Romain Jerome isn’t a brand that makes tool watches, but they created a watch called the Octopus, launched in 2012, that had an 888-feet water resistance (270 metres) and an internal rotating bezel that could be used to measure elapsed time. In 2017 Romain Jerome has returned to the theme, updating this watch and giving…
This is an edition limited to one single watch. It combines a tourbillon movement probably made by Concepto for Romain Jerome, and a hand-painted dial featuring the Pokémon characters. Romain Jerome has an ongoing cooperation with The Pokémon Company International, giving this watch an exclusive rarity value. They say that it will be assigned on…
Romain Jerome is a brand not based on watchmaking, but on story telling. Each of their pieces has a very powerful identity generated by design, colour, and the materials and texture used for case and bezel. This style was developed initially by Yvan Arpa, from 2006 to 2009, and then by Manuel Emch, CEO of…
Romain Jerome have perfected a very efficient formula that enables them to sell watches in non-precious cases (though complex with a lot of attention to finish), with movements purchased from third-party suppliers, at premium prices. They achieve this by means of agreements with companies licensing instantly recognisable subjects, and small editions that satisfy customers’ desire…
The RJ X Donkey Kong is a tribute to the like-named arcade game, and it is a limited edition of 81 watches in reference to the year in which the game was first released, 1981. Gaming arcades weren’t my scene and so I have to rely on what Romain Jerome tells us: before starring in…
Romain Jerome first launched its Eyjafjallajökull-DNA watch in 2010, celebrating the eruption of the like-named volcano that for some days caused havoc in air traffic. It has already sold out two collections and so this year the brand is offering another piece, a limited edition of 99. The whole watch expresses rough, spiky lava, from…
The Moon Orbiter GMT by Romain Jerome is a new version of a watch first launched in 2015. Back then it was a very unusual watch, with a rectangular case and lugs with spring-loaded shock absorbers. This new version, presented in 2016, is a bit more conventional in appearance, with a circular case. The extra…
Is Tetris educational? At first sight, the game seems to encourage spatial ability as it calls for the visualization of geometrical shapes and their rotation. But in actual fact, according to a scientific study, experienced Tetris players just become good at Tetris and this spatial expertise doesn’t transfer to other areas of cognitive ability. Nonetheless…
Skulls are a big thing in fashion and Romain Jerome has added a skeleton skull watch to its range, with 12 colour versions. You could say that there is one for each month, but there is no real significance to the colours: CEO and creative director Manuel Emch simply chose his favourites from the possible…
Nothing displays the passage of the years better than this tribute to an electronic game that looks so incredibly dated, with its 8-bit pixelated graphics. According to psychological studies, the use of nostalgia to sell products is most effective when the thing remembered was something that we were doing in late adolescence, so when we…
Romain Jerome does steampunk exceptionally well. The idea of steam-age machines that have gone far into the future, retaining all their romantic smoke, rust and brass produced an entire genre in art and movies, and in a way, mechanical watches are already steampunk in themselves, anachronistic survivors of a mechanical age in an electronic…
The three watches in this new collection by Romain Jerome have the looks of the Steampunk collection, but there is no Titanic steel in the case, which helps bring the price point down. They can be considered the entry-level Romain Jerome Steampunk pieces, with prices starting at 8,950 Swiss francs. Each of the three…
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…
Company profile: Romain Jerome makes watches that are fun. Everything about the brand is fresh and entertaining, such as their booth at Baselworld 2015. While most brands are all about display cases and multi-media displays, Romain Jerome’s star attraction was freshly-popped popcorn and a ball pit. To entice the jacket-and-tie visitors to step in, the…
Clock radios are very much something of my generation. One of these objects woke me up every day during school and university in the 1970s, and that sort of design is very much part of that decade. It was quite surprising to see the new Romain Jerome Subcraft at Baselworld 2015, a mechanical watch…
Apart from gold, silver, steel, titanium, aluminium, mother-of-pearl and precious stones, some watch brands feature materials that on the face of it don’t seem to have much to do with watchmaking. Usually the strange materials are included to provide a new talking-point and a theme that can be used for marketing the watch. Often the…
‘Skeleton watches’ seem perfect for Halloween, and so here is a small selection of watches on the skull theme. The motif has been around for a long time, more in art than in watches. Damien Hirst’s diamond-encrusted skull ‘For the Love of God’ is probably the best-known work on this theme, in platinum with 8,501…
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…