Jaquet Droz Harrods Special Edition

Enameling is one of those art forms that was prolific in watchmaking’s early years but it seems to have to lost traction as it only appears on a select few timepieces each year. There are a few reasons for this decline in dials employing enameling but the biggest by far is that it is very time consuming and costly for manufacturers to do this on a large scale.

Jaquet Droz uses Grand Feu enameling for this creation, which is perhaps one of the more labor intensive enameling techniques. At the end of it, the finished product looks almost magical. Grand Feu enameling involves several layers of this vitreous material being heated repeatedly in a kiln until the various colors constituting the design appear. There are literally only a handful of artisans that can successfully complete the complex steps in this type of enameling.

The dial features a depiction of the iconic Harrods store with the undeniably British element of a double-decker bus on the adjacent street. Around the 4:30 position is an inscription reading “Manufacture en Suisse”, which translates to Swiss made. The dial responsible for the indication of the minutes and hours is off-center at the 12 position in black, which is actually a part of the enameling process. The hands used are dauphine shaped and crafted from 18kt red gold. Protecting the dial is a scratch resistant sapphire crystal.

The case is also made from 18kt red gold and measures in at 43mm for the case diameter, and 11.48mm for the case height. The Jaquet Droz Harrods Special Edition is outfitted with a black alligator leather strap, secured via a pin buckle. This model is water resistant to 30 meters or 3 Bars.

Seen through the exhibition case back is the self-winding mechanical movement caliber Jaquet Droz 2653-4. This movement features an autonomy of 68 hours.