AIRY BEAUTY
As transparent and light as a soap bubble, this ultra-modern interpretation of the famous Grande Seconde by the Chaux-de-Fonnier watchmaker welcomes two new versions to its collection
Presented in the spring of 2018 at Baselworld, the Grande Seconde Skelet-One collection by Jaquet Droz quickly became a success. Today, this very modern interpretation of the iconic Grande Seconde is available in two new timepieces with an even more contemporary feel, one featuring a plasma ceramic case and the other encased in red gold.
This duo beats to the rhythm of the same heart: the JD 2663 SQ caliber, a self-winding open-worked movement resembling shadowy, contemporary lace, with a 4-hour cadence and a 68-hour power reserve.
Utterly transparent, the sapphire dial features a brushed ring at 12 o’clock on which applied red or white gold hour-markers rest. Above them fly two lancine-shaped hands in the same color scheme, indicating the hours and minutes. At 6 o’clock, a large curved disc with a discreet railway track scale displays the seconds, pointed to by a large tapered second hand that seems to float in the air.
While the housing diameter is approximately the same (41 and 41.5mm), the material used is radically different. Indeed, the plasma ceramic—obtained by a carburization process through activating a gas at 20,000?C, modifying the surface without altering the structure—
lends a very different, almost avant-garde look to the Skelet-One Grande Seconde, a stunning metal-like aspect, while retaining the unique advantages of ceramics (resistance and lightness).
Price: 24,300 CHF (plasma ceramic) – 34,600 CHF (red gold) jaquet-droz.com
By Sharmila Bertin