Innovative watchmakers turn to rare and precious materials to produce memorable timepieces

The answer lies in rare and exotic materials, which some luxury watch brands have increasingly turned to as a means of crafting something truly memorable and distinctive.

RJ-Romain Jerome is arguably at the forefront of this movement. The quirky and imaginative independent Swiss brand has made a name for itself by scouring outer space and the ocean depths for special materials, including moon dust, remains of the Titanic, and ashes and lava stones from Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull.

“It’s not always easy to see an original idea come to life,” admits CEO Manuel Emch. “Finding the materials isn’t always the most difficult aspect; the real challenge is finding a reliable partner … that is willing to help us acquire these materials.”

There are, of course, multiple ways to acquire these exotic materials.

One option, albeit an expensive and fairly temperamental process, is through auctions. It’s one which Romain Jerome has taken part in the past to obtain moon dust – for their popular space-inspired timepieces – which also features parts of the original Apollo 11.

For the now iconic Volcano watch, however, which includes material from Eyjafjallajökull, Emch found matters considerably more difficult.

“We had a problem,” he recalls. “We didn’t have any material from the volcano nor did we know how to get it.”

“Luckily, we were contacted by [the geology department at] the Icelandic Institute of Natural History, [which offered] to help us by sending us lava stone and ash from the erupting volcano,” he says. Thanks to this partnership, not only has the original piece sold out, but the brand launched the collection’s second timepiece this year.

This sort of collaboration is not uncommon. Other brands have also reached out to third-party organisations, which may at times donate unusual materials to watch companies to produce these distinctive timepieces – particularly if it means an increase in awareness of the organisation or its cause.

British watchmaker Bremont, for example, worked with The National Museum of the Royal Navy on its HMS Victory watch, named after the only remaining 18th century ship in the world and the oldest serving warship still to be in commission. The museum had released some of the original oak from the ship for this project, and Bremont in turn made sure that part of the proceeds would go towards the continued preservation of the ship.