Whether in literature or cinema, eroticism or emotions: what is suggested is always more powerful than what is revealed. Obvious is easy. The art of suggestion is something much more subtle. Herein lies the beauty of the Tourbillon Skelet Sapphire Opal. Draped in sapphire, beneath a veil of opal, the piece subtly allows some of its usually hidden mechanism to be glimpsed: its skeleton movement suspended in space, powered by a flying tourbillon with a power reserve of eight days. A unique, luminous piece made for an aesthete and collector.
At Jaquet Droz, mineral dials are a highly prized form of master craftsmanship. Chosen for their properties, colours or symbolism, stones are only rarely esteemed for their transparency. However, it is the main attraction of opal. Its name, from the Sanskrit word upala meaning "precious stone", is justly deserved. Its green and blue reflections are unique. Opal is one of the very rare stones to change its colour based on exposure to light. This phenomenon has its own name – iridescence – to describe this rare property of spontaneous chromatic variation.
This property makes opal truly the centrepiece of the new Tourbillon Skelet Sapphire. Radiant and luminous, the creation is bathed in light thanks to a case made entirely from sapphire machined in the Swiss city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. Inside this showcase, light does not only strike the opal dial from above, as in a classic watch construction. Here, light is everywhere. It penetrates the piece from the back, front, and sides. It snakes through the movement. Wends its way between the bridges and gear train. It skims the tourbillon, caresses the hands, weaves around the gold oscillating weight, escaping again through the middle. Always present, never captured. The opal reveals its movement, echoing its path with shimmering reflections.
It is powered by a Swiss Made precision mechanism. With its signature Jaquet Droz figure-of-eight design, the movement features a skeleton flying tourbillon at 12 o'clock, counterbalanced by the hours and minutes at 6 o'clock. The two are perfectly visible thanks to two openings in the opal, which is just 7/10th of a millimetre thick.
For this unique piece, the movement has a power reserve of eight days, and features an anthracite gray coating. This is complemented by the white gold of the hands, crown, and signature Jaquet Droz screws (with star-shaped heads). The 42-mm case on a white rubber strap is perfect for any wrist, male or female. A unique piece, precise and precious, which combines the traditional tourbillon with a uniquely disruptive and unexpected play of light.
