BY DHANANJAY PATHAK
Jaquet Droz released the Grande Seconde Skelet-One during Baselworld 2018. Featuring an open-worked dial, the Skelet One represents a sportier and architectural take on the Grande Seconde, one of the brand’s most popular and elegant offerings. For 2021, Jaquet Droz has made the Skelet-One collection a little more diverse by adding three new color variations of the watch.
Presented on a green, blue, and yellow fabric strap, with matching highlights on the dial, all the three new Skelet-One watches look more playful and energetic when compared to the previously released Skelet-One variations. The green and blue models accompanied by their color-matched hands exhibit a sporty and causal vibe, whereas the yellow variation comes with a warmer outlook, thanks to the 18-karat red gold hands, indexes, and screws. The overall design and layout remain familiar. Most of the dial has been hollowed out to bring the architecture of the underlying movement to the forefront. Taking center stage is a large sapphire disc that comprises two overlapping circular displays, which are reminiscent of the figure “8”, a signature design detail of Jaquet Droz watches. The smaller display at 12 o’clock features a brushed silver hour ring with applied white or red gold indices, a printed minute chapter ring, and alpha-shaped hands. At the 6 o’clock position is an oversized transparent running second’s display that features a rail-road-style track on the outer periphery and a long baton-style hand, both of which have once again been color-matched to the straps.
The case is made of Black ceramic which is highly scratch resistant and lightweight and provides a nice contrast to colorful elements on the dial. It measures a wearable 41.5mm in diameter and has a thickness of around 12.48mm. Furthermore, the case has been forged inside an oven at high temperatures to give it a nice metallic sheen without adding any metal particles. At the 3 o’clock position is a grippy conical crown which should make winding the movement a pleasurable experience. Finally, the case is water-resistant to a paltry 30 meters.
The driving force behind the Skelet-One is the Jaquet Droz 2663 self-winding movement, which has been heavily skeletonized and can be fully appreciated from both the front and the rear of the watch. The movement operates at a frequency of 4 Hz and most of its parts have been given a black treatment to complement the black ceramic case. There is 68 hours of power reserve on offer, which is stored in the two barrels. In addition to this, the movement is equipped with a silicon balance spring and an 18-karat white gold oscillating weight, which is engraved with the individual limited-edition serial number.
The new 2021 Jaquet Droz Grand Seconde Skelet-One watches are limited to 28 pieces per model. The price is .
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