By Adam Keith, Associate Timepiece Editor for ViaLuxe-
The historic use by Pierre Jaquet Droz of brilliant blue in the creation of exceptional horological objects has inspired the latest assemblage of timepieces from the manufacture Jaquet Droz. La Ligne Bleue is an exclusive new Jaquet Droz watch collection whose production will be restricted to just eight individual pieces for the five models it will comprise.
Among watch connoisseurs who value the finest craftsmanship--particularly insofar as dialwork is concerned--Jaquet Droz timepieces represent a rare benchmark of excellence. The brand has become known as a bastion of the rare art of grand feu--an ancient technique of powdered enamels transforming into a surface of immense depth and richness through a painstaking and extremely delicate multi-step firing process.
White or black Jaquet Droz enamel dials are extremely demanding, each requiring between fifteen and twenty firings for completion. However, the lustrous blue dials of the La Ligne Bleue series present even greater difficulty for the artisans of the house. No less than twenty individual firings are demanded to create each blue enamel dial. Only a tiny fraction of these dials will survive the arduous firing process; fewer than one of every ten to emerge will satisfy the brand's rigorous quality control standard and end up in a cased-up La Ligne Bleue timepiece.
The most complex of the five La Ligne Bleue timepieces is the Quantieme Perpetuel, an elegant showpiece distinguished by a perpetual calendar complication with serpentine retrograde hands for days of the week, and the month. The Grande Seconde and Grande Seconde Medium embody the essence of Jaquet Droz design signatures, and feature the iconic overlapping dials which converge to create the mystical number "8". The Grande Date watch presents functionality and elegant minimalism with its off-centered hour and minute subdial that sits atop a clearly legible large date indicator.
The final model of the collection, and the only member not rendered in 18-karat white gold, is the graceful and particularly slender L'Origine Email watch. The extraordinary blue enamel dial of this Jaquet Droz timepiece in stainless steel epitomizes classicism; a wreath of Roman numeral hour markers encircles traditional centralized indications for the hour, minutes, and seconds. As with all the La Ligne Bleue collection, the L'Origine Email is completed by a brilliant blue strap in hand-sewn alligator leather, and an ardillon buckle bearing the Jaquet Droz insignia.
More about Jaquet Droz:
Jaquet Droz brand & timepiece collections
Jaquet Droz product blogs
Jaquet Droz news