Jaquet Droz’s Grande Seconde SW watch collection, the sportier cousins of the brand’s well-known Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde models, expands this year, with six new models in steel cases, offering two different case sizes and three contemporary color schemes.
The Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde SW derives its name from its off-center “figure eight” dial design, with a prominent seconds subdial in the bottom half intersecting a smaller, hours-and-minutes subdial in the top half. (The “SW” in the model name marks it as the “sports watch” version of the original, more elegant Grande Seconde watch.
The new watches, which are available at retailers now, are offered in two case sizes — 45-mm-diameter and, for the first time in this line, 41-mm diameter — and a trio of dial colors that include gray, anthracite gray, and blue, all with matching alligator leather straps. The prices for all six new Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde SW watches are the same: $14,700.
The dials of the watches feature a rarity in the sports-watch world, an ornamental côtes de Genève pattern that adds a sense of depth and calls to mind the traditional Swiss watchmaking techniques used by the brand’s namesake, legendary watchmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz. The alligator leather straps are also a nod to a more traditionally elegant style of watch, replacing the rubber and metal straps of previous Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde SW timepieces.
The watch’s movement, Jaquet Droz Caliber 2663A-S, features automatic winding by means of an 18k white gold rotor, a frequency of 28,800 vph, and a 68-hour power reserve stored in a double barrel. The movement has a ruthenium treatment, while the hours, minutes and seconds hands have a rhodium treatment. The movement is visible through a clear sapphire window in the caseback, which is also engraved with an individual serial number.
Lemme know when they make something that’s NOT $13,800 outside my budget. :(