The Grande Seconde Moon is a Grande Seconde of which the brand’s signature figure 8 dial incorporates a moon phase with date nestled inside the off-centered large seconds hand at 6 o’clock. The new Grande Seconde Moon combines the day-to-day practicality of precise hour, minute, seconds and date displays with the poetry of a 22-carat gold Moon Phase.
Jaquet Droz first took on the aesthetic challenge of incorporating this complication into the Grande Seconde watch with the initial Grande Seconde Moon collection released in 2017. By playing with proportions and materials, the brand managed to preserve the time-honored design created by Pierre Jaquet-Droz 280 years previously while enhancing it with the poetry the Moon deserved.
Today, four new variations are revealed. Two light-colored interpretations – a 43 mm white gold model with Grand Feu enamel dial, and a 39 mm steel model with opaline dial – feature a blued steel moon disc decorated with 18-carat white gold star appliques. Two further versions exhibit a more mysterious color palette: a 43 mm red gold model with black Grand Feu enamel dial presents a black onyx disc, while a 39 mm diamond-set steel model boasts an aventurine dial and disc.
This 39 mm aventurine ladies’ model with Moon Phase is a first for the Grande Seconde collection. The aventurine glass, formerly known as “goldstone”, was selected by Jaquet Droz for its silvery inclusions. The glittering deep blue tinted glass recreates the effect of a starry night sky. Just as each piece of aventurine glass is one of a kind, so is each of the Grande Seconde Moon models.
For the Grande Seconde Moon, Jaquet Droz developed Mechanism 135, an in-house movement featuring a high precision 135-tooth wheel - and a silicon escapement - inside a Jaquet Droz 2660QL3 caliber. While a traditional 59-tooth movement accumulates an error of one day every two years and eight months, the Jaquet Droz Moon Phase need only be adjusted by one day every 122 years thanks to a corrector discreetly incorporated into the middle of the case. The precision of the Grande Seconde Moon movement is thus infinitely closer to the actual lunar month which lasts exactly 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 2.8 seconds.
