Elite Traveler May-June 2015

DISCOVER

elite traveler MAY/JUNE 2015 ISSUE 3 40

The Museum Pocket Watch is an antique-style watch based around the restored inner parts of an 18th century Jaquet Droz timepiece.

BRAND PROFILE/// JAQUET DROZ

Few watchmakers can claim to match the heritage of this manufacture in the Swiss city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. Established in 1721, its founder – Pierre Jaquet Droz – was not merely an artisan watchmaker, but a renowned inventor of complex automata. In fact, such was the level of innovation exhibited by his machines they have since been credited as the earliest-known examples of working computers. Today, Pierre’s pioneering spirit lives on through a collection of haute horology and intricately executed craftsmanship. jaquet-droz.com

1 GRANDE SECONDE DEADBEAT Referencing a complication invented during the Age of Enlightenment – deadbeat seconds – this watch features Jaquet Droz’s signature overlapping dials, and a larger jumping second hand. Price on request 2 THE BIRD REPEATER GENEVA A celebration of the city whose first clock-making was founded by Jaquet Droz, this red-gold minute repeater has eight mechanical animations – from a hatching egg to the flowing water of Lake Geneva. Price on request 3 PERPETUAL CALENDAR ECLIPSE A pertinent example of the watchmaker’s predilection for complexity, this 43mm design incorporates minutes, hours, day, date and month, a leap year indicator, moon phase and a power reserve of 68 hours. $41,000

Show offs

This year’s Baselworld fair exhibited an array of horological showmanship, not least from niche label MCT (Manufacture Contemporaine du Temps), whose Frequential One F110 features a squared-off 42mm case design cast from grade-5 DLC-coated titanium and a raised balance wheel positioned in the center of the watch face. Breguet’s Tradition 7097 Automatique Seconde Rétrograde, meanwhile, shows a heritage brand embracing thoroughly 21st century methods. The outcome is something akin to an inverted design, from its retrograde second hand to the miniaturized guilloché dial, which leaves ample space for the other features. Louis Vuitton’s watch arm continues to quietly gain credibility with the release of three Tambour éVolution dual-time models in stealth black, the most appealing of which, the Spin Time GMT, indicates the second time zone via a series of tiny rotating cubes. mctwatches.com, breguet.com, louisvuitton.com

Clockwise from top left Louis Vuitton’s Tambour éVolution; a Breguet Tradition 7097 Automatique Seconde Rétrograde; Baselworld 2015