The new Baselworld 2016 Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Dual Time comes in a 43 mm diameter case in three different versions that include an Ivory Grand Feu enamel dial with an 18K red gold case and a silvery opaline or onyx dial with a stainless steel case. A new timepiece that celebrates the magic in a two-beat tempo with a brand new mechanism and elegantly positioned second time zone. This new watch takes its inspiration from the traveling spirit of its founder Pierre Jaquet-Droz. A visionary entrepreneur, an inventor in an era profoundly influenced by the artistic and philosophical movements of the Age of Enlightenment, he often traveled from the royal courts of Europe to the gates of the Forbidden City.

He undoubtedly wore a watch showing the time in the village of his birthplace, La Chaux-de-Fonds, while he himself was in Peking —now Beijing— or Madrid. This notion of telling the time in two places at once would go on to become deeply rooted in the ethos of Jaquet Droz and is honored by several iconic models including the Twelve Cities, which gives the time in 12 capitals with a single hand, the Grande Heure GMT and the Time Zones. The dial of the new Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Dual Time maintains the iconic figure eight layout without getting too busy or complicated to read.

With two off-centered dials, slightly overlapping to delineate a figure eight, a new movement was developed to create an upper dial displaying the local time with a Roman numeral chapter ring and a lower dial off-centered at six o’clock, that features running seconds and doubles up with a second time zone indicator with hours and minutes and a date indicated by a red-tipped hand that exploits and enhances the recessed lower subdial in a delicate structuring of form highly characteristic of Jaquet Droz. 

The beating heart inside the new Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Dual Time is the new Jaquet Droz automatic calibre 2663H24. This movement with 42 jewels, silicon balance spring and pallet horns, features a double barrel, flat bridges and an 18K red gold oscillating weight. The movement beats at a frequency of 4Hz —28,800 vph— to provide a power reserve of 65 hours when fully wound.

The watch is fitted with a rolled-edge handmade black alligator strap with pin buckle matching the metal of the case. The watch is water resistant to 30 meters. On the wrist, the watch wears true to its 43 mm size on a 7.25" wrist. The wrist presence is extremely elegant and the complication in the watch extremely functional. Next time you find yourself traveling around Asia, think of Pierre Jaquet-Droz and his automatons as you check the local time and the time back home on the new Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Dual Time.

Sticker Price $26,800 USD for 18K red gold, $16,000 for stainless steel with silver dial and $17,500 for stainless steel with onyx dial. For more info on Jaquet Droz click here.