Clock and watchmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz created timepieces that were works of art rather than mere tools to tell the time.
An entrepreneur who travelled widely during the 18th century, visiting the royal courts of Europe and China, he impressed noblemen with his meticulous grand feu enamelling techniques and intricate decorative motifs, which were to become the hallmarks of Jaquet Droz. These trades are being revived in the company's new atelier in La Chaux-de-Fonds and showing themselves in new novelties.
This year, they include the Petite Heure Minute Relief Dragon, which celebrates the powerful legend of the mystical creature with intricate craftsmanship and technical features. Two dragons on the watch face are engraved in gold and mounted on an enamelled dial made using the grand feu technique.
This labour-intensive craft requires the artisan to control the high temperature of the fire, necessary to achieve the perfect colour and grain, and can often take at least five attempts to get right, even by the most skilled enamellers.
Meticulous craftsmanship is also applied to the caseback, which has a black onyx dragon tail engraved on the oscillating weight. The watch comes with a red gold case and ivory or black enamel dial, but only 88 people will get their hands on these limited edition pieces.
Other new models employing the grand feu technique include the Eclipse Ivory Enamel. Powerful in its simplicity, the watch dial is decorated with eight stars and a moon engraved in red gold, which reveals itself from an index cut from white onyx. Day and month readings appear in apertures at the top of the dial and a serpentine hand with a crescent moon follows the date around the outer edge of the dial. It comes with a red gold case.
The Grande Date Ivory Enamel also highlights the pure ivory disc dial around a red gold case. Hour and minute hands are placed in a subdial off centre at 12 o'clock that sweep past Roman numerals. The date is shown in Arabic numerals through a window at 6 o'clock.