HANDS-ON: The Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Quantième Blue Côtes de Genève
Felix ScholzThe story in a second:
Just check out that dial. ’Nuff said.
Outside of their amazing automata and elaborate enamel work, the flagship Jaquet Droz collection is their Grande Seconde, with its distinctive, clean design dominated by two subdials, one for the time, the other for seconds. When we saw this version at Basel this year, we quickly fell under its spell. It has a dramatic quality that sets it apart from more conservative dress pieces. And the dial? Well, we’ll get to that.
All told it’s a super-minimal, elegant, stylish watch – a versatile design that works well with an extravagant dial finish or added complication. The example we’re looking at today offers a little of both, adding a calendar function (that’s the ‘Quantième’ in the model name, for any non-linguists in the house) as well as a beautifully finished dial.
The most commonly seen Grande Secondes are the more formal enamel-dialled offerings, which look best paired with a crisp white cuff. This version, on the other hand, creates a totally different look with its rich blue dial finished with Geneva stripes and applied opaline subdials. Still elegant, but far less buttoned-up, this would be in its element with a casual cashmere or cheeky check.
The everyday appeal of this Grande Seconde isn’t just thanks to the drop-dead gorgeous dial. The big 43mm steel case also plays a role. But be warned; since there’s nothing on this watch to distract from the dial, it looks a lot larger on the wrist than the dimensions suggest. Happily, Jaquet Droz also offer many 39mm models, which we think is the perfect size for this design.
Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Quantième Blue Côtes de Genève Australian pricing
This blue dialled Jaquet Droz has a retail price of $11,900.
Images by Kristian Dowling/Time+Tide Images.