Astrale Grande Heure Minute

CASE : stainless steel, sapphire caseback, water-resistant to 30m

SIZE : 43mm, 11.77mm thick

MOVEMENT : mechanical selfwinding Jaquet Droz Caliber 1169. Si, 28,800 vph, 68h power reserve, silicon hairspring and pallet horns, double barrel

FUNCTIONS : hours, minutes, small seconds

DIAL : slate gray or silver-toned, with respectively rhodium-plated or blued hands

STRAPS : slate gray or black alligator leather, stainless steel pin buckle

Tribute to astronomy

At Jaquet Droz, the hours, minutes and seconds are large or small, and their size determines the collection names as well as the composition of the watch dials. The most iconic collection is doubtless the Grande Seconde, with its two hours&minutes and seconds subdials forming a figure eight. Remove the large seconds, and you get the Petite Heure Minute line, with its 12 o’clock offset dial. The watch brand from La Chaux-de-Fonds rarely uses central large hands, which makes the Grande Heure Minute model even more original. Part of the Astrale collection dedicated to astronomy, the two new Grande Minute models with slate gray or silver-toned dials, are joining the black onyx version launched in 2010. The pure, elegantly understated Grande Heure Minute is uncluttered by any superfluous information : three hands, no numerals, but instead tiny dots marking off the minutes and original rhodium-plated studs every five minutes. All of which appear on a spacious dial whose emptiness recalls the vastness of the heavens, especially on the slate gray version. The small seconds subdial offset at 9 o’clock, rimmed with steel and more pareddown than ever, bears only a single hand featuring a planet-shaped counterweight, an additional nod to the inspiration behind the Astrale collection.