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Jaquet Droz
Fired at 800° and Ready to Go

Jaquet Droz was founded in 1738 by Pierre Jaquet Droz, one of the most important watchmakers of the period. He was the inventor of numerous watchmaking innovations and is considered the first entrepreneur of the watchmaking industry. He founded his first manufactory in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1738 followed in 1774 by one in London (as London was the main trade route to Asia and China in particular), another in 1784 in Geneva (where all the different métier d’art were based), and in 1785 he created a small workshop in Paris.

Jaquet Droz was famous for his exceptionally decorated dials as he evolved the incorporation of paillons, stone setting and enamel to a seriously sophisticated art form. He was also the first to really develop singing birds and animated mechanisms and to decorate automatons, he even combined a cam system with a disc on which 40 characters could be written, combining a mechanical system with memory – a rudimentary computer.

The company was bought by the Swatch Group in 2000. “The new team,” says Manuel Emch, President of Montres Jaquet Droz, “decided to take the spirit and values of the design, craftsmanship, philosophy and emotions of our 18th century founder and link them to the 21st century. The watch we have created for Only Watch 09 is a combination of these values.”

Bringing back lost crafts

Enamel is a very humanized material and as such has imperfections. If you look at its surface it is never uniform – it epitomizes the contradiction achieved by trying to put something that is organic into an environment that is calculated to one tenth of a millimeter. This makes it very difficult to craft and adapt and results in a high number of breakages.

“Because there was not any demand for the technique,” comments Emch, “when we first started there was only one person who practiced traditional enameling techniques. But full-fire enamel dials make sense given the history of Jaquet Droz. There was a huge risk that this craft would disappear forever but we have redeveloped and researched the science behind enameling and can now boast five enamellers.”

The numeral 8 holds great importance for the brand and the philosophy behind the brand:

1. Historically – given the “8” design of Jaquet Droz pocket watches from 18th century.
2. Commercially – 8 is the Chinese lucky number (and is also the number considered to be most lucky worldwide).
3. Mathematically – 8 is like infinity – something which has no beginning and no end.
4. Intuitively – 8 is the first figure a child draws.
5. Metaphysically – 8 is the only numeral which is closed – so containing the energy flow.
6. 8 is made up of two rounds – the round of the slow time which is overtaken by the fast time – the seconds’ dial is bigger than the hour dial.
7. The Jaquet Droz logo with the two stars the original master seal from the 18th century, and the only numeral which can enclose these stars is the figure 8.
8. Jaquet Droz collections are always limited to 1, 8 or 88.

Jaquet Droz Only Watch 09

The first watch Emch designed for the company continued the philosophy of the early Jaquet Droz 18th century transposed into the 21st century. It was based on an original 18th century Jaquet Droz pocket watch and used the same craft techniques – with a full-fire ivory enamel dial. The watch continued the look of the pocket watch, with oversized bezel and dome-shaped crystal glass and crown which is reminiscent of a pocket watch crown.

The Jaquet Droz Only Watch 09, a unique piece with 70 hours double barrel automatic movement, follows this same logic of combining the past and the future. A unique piece with a unique red enamel dial – red the color of Monaco – the complexity of the enamel has taken six years to develop. It uses the same base material but in two totally different ways: traditional 18th century enamel on one side, which is based on zirconium, and on the other 21st century ceramic zirconium. Enamel, which is imprecise and individual and has structure, is the focus of interest of the piece, and ceramic, which is mathematical and extremely precise, demands a very exact and completely opposite approach.

Because 8 is the first intuitive figure drawn by a child and because Only Watch’s function is to support research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Jaquet Droz has chosen to use this on the dial. Added to which, ceramic is the second hardest material (after diamonds) so it signifies resistance and protection for the child – like a shield. “It’s a glimpse into what the Monegasque Association against Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is facing with the disease,” says Emch. To emphasize the purity and innocence of childhood the watch was designed with a white ceramic case, which has also become very much the watch for nonconformists.

An ivory colored enamel dial needs about ten layers to achieve the right color, with each layer being fired at 800°. Black needs 15 layers and 15 firings, and blue 18 or 19, but red needs an amazing 22 layers. So every time you add a layer you add another complication. Each time it is fired you add another risk of breakage and another risk of bubbling.

“We started trying colors in 2003,” says Emch, “and it took us 6 years to find a way to stabilize the red color. This is also due to the enamel’s reaction to the firing – the red reacts differently to different colors – so we had a lot of breakages and it is impossible to achieve a consistent red! It is the first time we have created a completely red dial and, given the complexity, it is probably the last,” adds Emch with a smile.

 

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For more information contact:
Ita McCobb
Patrizzi & Co Auctioneers SA
Tel +41 22 318 28 38
e-mail i.mccobb@patrizziauction.com

Audrey Baylac
Association Monégasque contre les Myopathies / Monaco Yacht Show
Tel +377 93 10 41 70
e-mail audrey@monacoyachtshow.mc