Posts filed under Jaquet Droz

Experience: The Jaquet Droz Master Painter Evening. The Art of Hand Painted Dials and an Unforgettable Night.

This past Monday, we had the pleasure of attending a very exclusive event with Jaquet Droz at the Tourbillon Boutique in Chicago —the only retailer in Chicago that carries the brand and a store where you can find some very special Jaquet Droz timepieces. The event featured a Master Painter straight from Jaquet Droz's 'atelier' in Switzerland and a very small and select group of invitees. Once we saw the very talented and friendly Master Painter in action, we knew we were in for a real treat. Her skills were pure perfection in the art of horology.

During this fascinating evening filled with appetizing 'hors d'oeuvres', champagne and a decadent dinner, we were also able to peruse some fantastic timepieces across the different collections of the brand, including some very special watches and novelties like the Jaquet Droz Perpetual Calendar Eclipse, the new Petite Heure Minute relief Seasons, the Grande Heure GMT, the Grande Seconde Quantieme and even an Erotic Automaton Pocket Watch —not appropriate for anyone under 18—, amongst other timepieces.

Additionally, we were given the opportunity to experience what is like to paint on a Jaquet Droz dial and further understand why their hand painted dials are such magnificent works of art. Each attendee was given a brand new unfinished dial with the outline of the tiger motif in order to finish it by adding the right colors to it with a delicate brush. At the end of the night, we were all given the dial we individually painted to take it as a keepsake. As you will see in the last picture, our painted dial —as expected— was nowhere near the perfection of the Jaquet Droz enamel painted dials.

After painting the dials, we all enjoyed a delicious dinner catered by Gibsons Steakhouse —one of Chicago's top restaurants— paired with great wines. For appetizer Roasted Heirloom Beets with Maine Lobster, for entrée a Roast Gibsons Prime New York Steak and for dessert a decadent Chocolate Flourless Cake paired with a nice Lambrusco dessert wine.

An evening filled with great timepieces, nice people, good food and wines is always memorable; however, this particular night is one that will remain engrained in our minds and hearts as the true watchlifestylers we are. Thank you Jaquet Droz and Tourbillon Boutique Chicago!

For more info on Jaquet Droz click here.

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Editor & Publisher and filed under Events, Jaquet Droz and tagged Jaquet Droz Master Painter Jaquet Droz Perpetual Calendar Eclipse Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Relief Seasons Jaquet Droz Grande Heure GMT Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Quantieme Erotic Automaton Pocket Watch Gibson's Chicago Tourbillon Boutique Chicago 2013.

Insider: Jaquet Droz Twelve Cities. A Very Easy to Use Worldtimer that Takes You Around the World in 12 Jumping Hours.

The Jaquet Droz Twelve Cities ref. J010133202 from the Majestic Beijing collection is the most simple, yet extremely elegant interpretation of a worldtimer with the ability to quickly check the time in twelve cities/timezones with the push of a button. Featuring a black 'Grand Feu' enamel dial, an 18K red gold case measuring 43mm in diameter and an automatic movement that provides a power reserve of 68 hours when fully wound, the Jaquet Droz Twelve Cities is the perfect companion for world travelers or those doing business with partners in multiple time zones that are looking for a worldtimer that is very easy to operate with one simple click.

Once you've set your local home time and city, all it takes is for you to push the button located right above the crown at 2 o'clock to travel in time to twelve major cities included in the aperture at 6 o 'clock. Cities included are Mexico, New York, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney, Azores, London, Genève, Istanbul, Moscow, Dubai and Aspen. The dial features a jumping hours aperture at 12 o'clock and a single hand marking the minutes.

The automatic calibre Jaquet Droz 5153 with double barrel and beautifully decorated 22K white gold oscillating weight is fully visible through the display case back. This movement features 28 jewels and beats at a frequency of 28,800 vph. As you can see in the pictures, this watch is available in a limited edition of only 88 pieces that are properly marked on the dial and the case back. The crown and the pusher that is used to advance the timezones are perfectly executed in a very elegant way.

The watch wears very comfortably and slightly bigger than its actual size due to its slightly domed sapphire crystal and the lack of a bezel on the case which makes the dial appear even larger. The Jaquet Droz Twelve Cities is fitted with a gorgeous rolled-edge black alligator strap with pin buckle in 18K red gold. Even though this fascinating timepiece is waterproof to a depth of 30 meters, as usual, we wouldn't recommend getting the strap wet.

If you are a world traveler, a stock/commodity trader or you are just someone that likes worldtimer complications for the heck of it, this Jaquet Droz will help you scratch the itch for that next timepiece you've been looking for the past couple of weeks.

Sticker Price $31,200. For more info on Jaquet Droz click here.

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Editor & Publisher and filed under Jaquet Droz and tagged Jaquet Droz Twelve Cities Jaquet Droz Majestic Beijing Jaquet Droz Twelve Cities ref. J010133202 Grand Feu Enamel Dial Posts 2013 2013.

News: Jaquet Droz Grande Heure GMT. Available in Stores Now.

Press Release

The Grande Heure GMT Jaquet Droz arrives in stores. The timepiece pays tribute to Pierre Jaquet Droz’s travels with clean lines, a classic design and precious material. This latest model, featuring perfect legibility for two time zones, flawlessly meets the demands of the modern and stylish globe trotter. It offers a simple, precise way to read the time in two time zones.

The 24 indexes in Arabic numerals set around a Grand Feu enamel dial make it easy to see all the hours of the day in two cities.

Never before has a watch presented such a clear, effortless indication of two time zones. This technological development is enhanced by the majestic hands in the form of a compass, a detail which hints at the navigational instruments used by sailors of another era. The red hand indicates local time while the blued steel hand shows the time at the destination. When the two hands come together in the same time zone they merge into a single, bi-colored indication of the exact time.

Jaquet Droz has shown its commitment to simplicity and practicality in the Grande Heure GMT by boldly choosing a time-setting system with a single crown. The result is a watch design of distinctive purity, perfectly combining the ivory color of the dial with the rich red gold of the case.

For more info on Jaquet Droz click here.

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Editor & Publisher and filed under News, Jaquet Droz and tagged Jaquet Droz Grande Heure GMT Jaquet Droz 2013.

Macros: Jaquet Droz Tourbillon Réserve de Marche. Fascinating Like the History of the Manufacture.

In 2013, Jaquet Droz celebrates its 275th anniversary, maintaining the avant-garde spirit and refined taste of its founder, Pierre Jaquet Droz.

Pierre Jaquet Droz was born in 1721 in La Chaux-de-Fonds. At age seventeen in 1738, Pierre opened his first workshop for clock making and produced a series of grandfather clocks with very sophisticated movements beyond anything that had been produced earlier. A decade later, after losing his wife and daughter, Pierre built a special carriage to take six clocks to be sold in Spain. Upon his return to La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1759 and after his successful sales in Spain, he focused exclusively on making watches, clocks and automatons —a moving mechanical device imitating a human being that was a precursor to robots. In 1774, he successfully completed three humanoid automatons —The Writer, The Draughtsman and The Musician— that were presented in La Chaux-de-Fonds and a year later in France to Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.

Years later, the Jaquet Droz fame and success reached the confines of Asia, to the point where the fifth emperor of the Qing Dynasty started collecting some of his masterpieces including clocks and automatons.

Acquired in 2000 by the Swatch Group, the brand returned exclusively to La Chaux-de-Fonds —after closing former operations in London and Geneva— and moved into its new 'Atelier de Haute Horlogerie' in the summer of 2010. Great timepieces have been presented since then including the Grande Seconde in 2002, the Eclipse in 2010 and the Bird Repeater in 2012.

The Jaquet Droz Tourbillon Réserve de Marche ref. J028033201 launched a few years ago —as part of the Complication La Chaux-de-Fonds collection— is one of the first Jaquet Droz watches to slightly move away from the utilization of the figure 8 on the dial configuration. Well, perhaps if we look at the dial upside-down, the figure 8 is still there.

The watch is fitted with a beautiful cutout and sectioned black Opaline dial with an off-centered hours and minutes sub-dial with roman numerals, a power reserve indicator at 10, a retrograde date indicator at 2 and a tourbillon with vertically aligned bridge at 6 o'clock. The indicators are beautifully done in red gold and fitted with hands with red contrasting tips.

Featuring a massive 18K red gold case measuring 47mm in diameter, this watch is very large, yet extremely elegant. To complete the beautiful design of this timepiece, this watch is fitted with a very nice crown with the traditional Jaquet Droz stars. From the beginning, Pierre Jaquet Droz used two stars to authenticate his watches and they are now a focal point of the Jaquet Droz logo. If you were to draw a circle around each of the stars, you would create a figure eight.

The beating heart inside this watch is the manual-wound Jaquet Droz JD3 Tourbillon calibre with a power reserve of 88 hours when fully wound. The calibre is nicely finished with black 'Côtes de Genève' and the unmistakeable clover engraving.

The Jaquet Droz Tourbillon Réserve de Marche is fitted with a hand-stitched alligator strap that is very comfortable and flawlessly finished. This watch is a true example of 'haute horlogerie' and worth every penny of its sticker price.

Sticker Price $190,300 USD. For more info on Jaquet Droz click here.

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Editor & Publisher and filed under Jaquet Droz and tagged Jaquet Droz Tourbillon Reserve de Marche Pierre Jaquet Droz 18th Century Beijing Qing Dinasty Atelier de Haute Horlogerie Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Jaquet Droz Eclipse Jaquet Droz Bird Repeater Swatch Group Automata by Pierre Jaquet Droz Jaquet Droz Tourbillon Réserve de Marche ref. J028033201 Complication La-Chaux-de-Fonds Collection La Chaux-de-Fonds Posts 2013 2013.

News: Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Relief Seasons. Now Available in Stores.

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In an expert blend of mastered skill by the Jaquet Droz craftsmen, the Petite Heure Minute Relief Seasons offers a new aesthetically-pleasing performance while reinventing tradition.

The magnificence of birds, and especially the blue songbirds of his native Swiss Jura, has always captivated Pierre Jaquet-Droz. From the beginning, the watchmaker from La Chaux-de-Fonds has paid tribute to the fascinating and graceful crystalline song of these creatures using the most advanced techniques of the age to render the beauty of the plumage, the density of the colors, and the mysterious depth of their gaze.

For over 3 centuries, artistic crafts have been central to Jaquet Droz’s creative magic. Far from being merely ornamental, they personify the very spirit of the brand. More faithful than ever to this artistic world, the craftsmen of the Jaquet Droz Ateliers d’Art have once more surpassed themselves to create the Petite Heure Minute Relief Seasons, a timepiece that celebrates the enchantment of birds.

Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Relief Seasons ref. J005023270

Delicately positioned on either side of the dial, two blue songbirds spread their wings. Are they about to land? Or take to the air? All the mystery of this scene resides in meticulously ordered craftsmanship: a dial is fashioned in hand-engraved mother-of-pearl, the birds are sculpted and engraved in gold before being applied to the dial and finally, the birds and the dial are painted– a miniature 'trompe-l’œil' which comes to life in the hands of the brand’s craftsmen.

From the curve of the wings to the size of the bodies, from the swell of the throat to the subtle association of the yellow and blue feathers, nothing has been omitted to make this truly three-dimensional masterpiece, saluting the beauty of nature and the freedom of these fascinating birds. The domed sapphire glass reinforces the optical illusion of the scene. When worn, it’s as if the whole of Nature is about to come to life, a reminder that the finest expression of life can be read in the passing of time.

Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Relief Seasons ref. J005024575

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A fusion of the most talented craftsmanship on a background of mother-of-pearl and gold, the model comes in two versions: one version for fall in red gold enhanced by warm colors and a winter version in diamond-set white gold dominated by colder tones, each available in a limited edition of 88. And for the brand’s admirers, spring and summer will not be far behind to wrap up this magnificent opus.

Both watches are fitted with the automatic calibre Jaquet Droz 2653 with 28 jewels that provides a power-reserve of 68 hours when fully wound.

The Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Relief Seasons Ref. J005023270 comes with a 41mm case in 18K red gold and its calibre is fitted with an 18K red gold oscillating weight with white mother-of-pearl and hand engraved and patinated 22K red gold bird applique. The watch comes on a handmade brown alligator strap.

The Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Relief Seasons ref. J005024575 comes with a 41 mm case in 18K white gold set with 272 diamonds —totaling 1.04 carats— and its calibre is fitted with an 18K white gold oscillating weight with white mother-of-pearl and hand engraved and rhodium-plated 22K red gold bird applique.

For more info click here.

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Editor & Publisher and filed under News, Jaquet Droz and tagged Jaquet Droz ref. J005024575 Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Relief Seasons Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Relief Seasons ref. J005023270 Jaquet Droz Limited Edition of 88 pieces Calibre Jaquet Droz 2653 Les Ateliers D'Art trompe-l’œil Pierre Jaquet-Droz La Chaux-de-Fonds Swiss Jura Posts 2013 2013.

Baselworld: Jaquet Droz. Pure Art.

Next to Omega and across from Glashütte, we find Jaquet Droz. This legendary watchmaker with 275 years of history and artful creations, dominates the corner on the first turn towards the back of the Exhibition Hall 1.0 Full of artistic pieces and some amazing complications, Jaquet Droz continues to make a statement in 'Haute Horlogerie' just like it did back in November of 2012 with the launch of the acclaimed Bird Repeater. Founded in 1738 by Pierre Jaquet-Droz, this company remains focused on artistic creations and outstanding complications.

For more info click here. To see the Bird Repeater in action click here.