Jaquet Droz is taking on an icon of rock history and presents the Rolling Stones Automaton ‘Some Girls’ unique piece. A unique piece for the most criticized album cover in the history of rock. The ‘Some Girls’ album cover from The Rolling Stones had to be significantly changed to align with the standards of the time. A backdrop that the highly disruptive Jaquet Droz could not help but revisit, devoting a unique piece to this monumental work of graphic art, and paying an irreverent homage to this album, which was released over 45 years ago.

The original cover showed the Stones alongside some of the 20th century's most beautiful women, reflecting the album's title. These included Brigitte Bardot, Claudia Cardinale, Farrah Fawcett, Raquel Welch, Marilyn Monroe, and both Liza Minnelli and her mother Judy Garland.

Legal actions for the unauthorized use of the images were filed immediately, and the Stones lost court case after court case. The group was forced to change its cover. In a final joke, the sleeve now showed only the band members made up like women, while the faces of the women previously featured were cut directly out of the cover. Yet another outrage for conformist society, but this version could not be taken to court.

It is to this cult album and its graphic twists and turns that Jaquet Droz is today paying tribute. This creation also steps away from the beaten track. It is a unique piece, in line with the Jaquet Droz Philosophy of the Unique, which has seen the brand cease all production of series watches. It is an automaton, in the finest tradition of Jaquet Droz, shaped by two centuries of experience. It is made entirely by hand.

At the heart of this piece sits a portrait of Mick Jagger, reinterpreted in a unique graphic style in the spirit of ‘Some Girls’. He is the master of timekeeping on this Stones piece: he has the privilege of counting the hours and minutes thanks to two hand-polished gold hands.

At the center of the composition is The Stones' natural habitat: the stage. It includes a miniature engraving of all of the band's instruments, Ron Wood and Keith Richards' guitars, the minimalist drum kit of Charlie Watts, and Jagger's microphone and harmonica —the latter measuring a few tenths of a millimeter. Each instrument is crafted by hand from a block of unfinished gold and sits over the original cover of "Some Girls", reproduced entirely using miniature painting.

The third circle is powered by an automaton. On its surface are the tiny grooves found on vinyl records —like the 33-rpm initial release of ‘Some Girls’ —engraved on the brass surface. The disc makes one complete rotation every 30 seconds, on-demand, by pressing the coaxial pusher on the crown at 3 o'clock.

The automaton's power reserve is sufficient for 4 minutes of animation i.e. 8 consecutive rotations. While it is being activated, the iconic Stones tongue, at 9 o'clock, raises, lowers, and waggles. Just above this, the player's tonearm raises and lowers, allowing the power reserve to be read.

This animation takes place against a lurid applique pop-art background, in the spirit of ‘Some Girls’, also entirely hand-painted in miniature. At 4 o'clock, Jaquet Droz painted a more recent image of the group to underscore its exceptional longevity —active since 1962 for 62 years of uninterrupted service—, and to pay tribute to the memory of founding member Charlie Watts (1941 – 2021), the only one no longer with us, and without whom "Some Girls" would never have existed. Nor The Rolling Stones Automaton.

Sticker Price CHF 251,000 Swiss Francs —approximately USD 300,000. For more info on Jaquet Droz click here.