Jaquet Droz astounds with Fleurs and Tigers

Nearly three centuries-old, watchmaker Jaquet Droz creates astonishing works of horological art using Grand Feu and paillonné enamelling, minute hand-engraved motifs, and mineral dials. This year too, the marque has managed to astound its aficionados with timepieces featuring a Black Jade dial as well as dials with paillonné enamelling and hand-painted Tigers

Grande Seconde Off-Centered Black Jade – Limited edition of 88
The Grande Seconde Off-Centered brings together the theme of gold and black jade with the principal codes of the Maison in a stunning 43 mm timepiece. The alignment of the hours and minutes with the independent large seconds is along a slightly slanted axis, from 1 o’clock to 7 o’clock. Almost exclusively of Australian origin, black jade is an extremely hard stone that requires lengthy polishing to reveal the tiny silver inclusions, its hidden secret. Black jade is at the heart of the new timepiece, limited to 88 pieces. Worked by hand as a mineral sheet just 1mm thick, it is paired with a red gold case featuring warm, coppery highlights, with two circles and fine hands also in red gold.

“Fleur de Lys” Grande Seconde Paillonnée  – “Fleur de Vie” Petite Heure Minute Paillonnée
Each limited edition of only 8
These two red gold timepieces stand apart with the art of paillonné enamelling, an age-old decorative technique that is based on another decorative art special to Jaquet Droz, the one used in the Grand Feu enamel dials. First, guilloché work is done on a gold dial. It is then covered in translucent coloured enamel that lets the guilloché patterns shine through. Next, several layers of enamel are applied, each one individually fired in the oven. Then comes the phase that demands the dexterity of Jaquet Droz artisans because every new layer of enamel and firing can introduce cracks or flaws. In this phase, dainty motifs cut from a thin gold leaf – the paillons (or strips) – are placed by hand, one by one, to create a figure. Once the design is done, the figures are covered with another layer of enamel and fired in the same oven. This translucent coat will protect the paillonné motif for centuries to come.

Each of these new editions – Fleur de Lys and Fleur de Vie – is extremely limited to a Numerus Clausus series of eight. The former symbolises kings and emperors. Emblems of a very long heraldic tradition, fleurs de lys are still found from France to Missouri, by way of England, Finland, Germany and Spain. The latter, the fleur de vie, is a geometric design that has travelled through millennia and across cultures.

Grande Seconde Quantième
The Grande Seconde’s off-centre display combines a seamless view of the hours and minutes with the precision of a large second hand. The collection now boasts a new addition, the Grande Seconde Quantième in a 41 mm diameter edition. The redesign begins with the case, which is thinned down slightly to make it lighter. New finishes were also specially developed for this collection that boasts dials in ivory tones, deep blue, burgundy, and anthracite. The date is displayed at 6 o’clock with an 18-carat red gold applique. In addition to these four colours, there is also a matte black, titanium grey sandblasted version and one in sandblasted silver. No fewer than seven models, each housing a hand-assembled Jaquet Droz self-winding movement with a 68-hour power reserve, are being unveiled.

Petite Heure Minute “Tiger” – Two limited editions of 28
Jaquet Droz evokes the power and grace of the powerful feline in two limited series of 28 pieces of the Petite Heure Minute model, chosen to free up maximum space on the dial to display the full intensity of the Tiger’s gaze. A white Tiger with ice blue eyes looks out from a black dial encased in white gold. On an ivory dial housed in red gold, the Tiger displays its famous black and orange fur with green eyes. Each hair of the Tiger’s fur is individually painted with the aid of a microscope to reproduce the feline’s thick and silky fur. The iris and pupil give the illusion that the Tiger’s gaze follows whoever looks upon it, wherever they are.