GLOBETROTTER
Making the Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Dual Time the ultimate travelling companion
While they’re certainly becoming commonplace today, robots were not unknown to people in the 18th century. Back then, “automata” as they were called at that time, elicited wonder and awe, as innovators like Pierre
Jaquet Droz brought such machines “to life”. Jaquet Droz with the help of his sons were pioneers in the art of automata, touring the royal courts around the world the world, including India, China and Japan, to showcase their art and grow their watchmaking business.
Today, this expertise in automata is still a signature of the maison, and is evident in their timepieces, such as the new Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Dual Time.
A world of time
While certainly not as a showy as some of the brand’s timepieces, the new Grande Seconde Dual Time is a timepiece worthy of the maison’s founder. The first thing that catches the eye is the powdery finished globe with a rendering of the continents seen flat from the North Pole in an azimuthal projection. Contrasting the continents is a mirror-finish backdrop of either black or anthracite.
It’s surprising how much information the brand has packed into the two intersecting circles, while still retaining a sense of space and proportion to the dial. The smaller off-centred dial contains the hours and minutes of the local time, with the time regulated by jumps of an hour, making it quicker to set the time on arrival. The date adjusts automatically to the change.
The larger dial indicates three separate functions: An outer chapter ring is for the small seconds; the next is a slightly inclined ring for the date, indicated by a lacquered red-tipped hand; the innermost ring, slightly recessed, features a two-tone 24-hour scale, for your home time and is indicated by a red triangle on the date counter.
Variations of a theme
For this new edition, the maison has four variations, all of which share the same case diameter of 43mm and height of 13.13mm. Two variations come in 18k red gold and two come in stainless steel. We were particularly taken by the stainless steel variations, which come with either a silver opaline dial or an equally eye-catching black onyx dial. This is a watch that is sure to be noticed, for all that it is also very subtle.
There are slight differences between the two stainless steel variations: The onyx dial has two white gold rings with black markings to frame the hours, minutes and seconds, while the silver dial has Roman numerals for the hours, minutes and seconds.
The two red gold models have striking black or ivory Grand Feu enamel dials with all the hands crafted in 18k red gold, as is the ring bearing the date. For the red gold models, the continents are also in red gold, striking against a black or anthracite sea.
Watch mechanisms
The timepiece maintains the same selfwinding movement, the 2663H24 calibre with a frequency of 4Hz and a power reserve of 65 hours. As with all Jaquet Droz movements, one of the bridges is engraved with a three-leaf clover, the signature of the maison.
The four models come with handmade alligator straps and either a stainless steel clasp for the steel models and a red gold ardillon buckle for the red gold versions.