It is now a tradition for watch brands to commemorate Chinese New Year by creating beautiful, decorative, limited editions artistically depicting the appropriate sign of the Chinese zodiac. The Year of the Ox – which is the second animal in the Chinese 12-year zodiac cycle – begins on February 12, 2021. Elizabeth Doerr shares 8 of this year’s colorful offerings here.
Sometimes you just want to be festive without being “too much,” right? Well, Elizabeth Doerr has got just the six watches for your wearing pleasure this holiday season – all of which would look great and proportionate on every wrist regardless of gender. And all of which do not go overboard on the sparkle, yet do not fall short in radiant elegance.
Jaquet Droz has already given us a few dragon watches and now offers another with its latest iteration of the Petite Heure Minute Relief Dragon, a showcase of Jaquet Droz’s magnificent Ateliers d’Art talents.
Ian Skellern still remembers the sense of awe he felt when he had the opportunity to watch and listen to a recently restored centuries-old Jaquet Droz singing bird. The animation was compelling, and the quality of the birdsong sound was incredible. But as impressive a feat he thought that full-sized eighteenth-century Jaquet Droz singing bird clock was, shrinking that mechanical technology to wristwatch size is just mind-blowing. As The Naked Watchmaker Peter Speake highlights here.
Aventurine remains a decorative artisanal element used only by luxury watchmakers in small series or unique pieces for its beauty and decorative properties. While there is some public uncertainty about the origin of aventurine, it continues to add mysterious shine and scintillating glamour to watches. Here is the real story behind aventurine: what it really is and where it comes from.
John Howe, the Canadian-born book illustrator and conceptual artist, is best known as one of two chief conceptual designers for the ‘Lord of the Rings’ film trilogy by Peter Jackson as well as ‘The Hobbit’ trilogy. He has also illustrated other items based on the timeless story by J.R.R. Tolkien and other well-known genre classics like ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.’ And now Howe is working on illustrations for Jaquet Droz watches!
The latest updates to the Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde Quantième focus on new aesthetic combinations mixed with a reduction in case size from 43 to 41 mm. Joshua Muchow likes them all, but has fallen hard for the Titanium Grey variation and explains why here.
High-end automata today beautifully illustrate that extraordinary engineering can be combined with impressive artistic crafts to wonderful ends. But even in the highest quality examples, the principles of what drives automata are largely the same as they have been for centuries because most are based on very straightforward mechanical principles to create motion. Everything you ever wanted to know about automata is right here.
When Martin Green first saw athe Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Tiger he thought that Jaquet Droz had used a photorealistic print on the dial, so real was the miniature enamel painting for him. The artist focused on the eyes of the tiger, and its gaze is so lifelike and filled with restrained power that it is almost scary. It looks like it’s about to pounce right off the dial!
Alexander Doerr had never really paid much attention to opals before, but upon closer inspection he realized this gemstone is extraordinary – shrouded in mystery and well worth learning more about. Looking at an opal is like looking at fireworks or even looking into a galaxy. And, as he learned, two Swiss watch brands specialize in using the fiery gemstone in watches: Jaquet Droz and Piaget.