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Much more interesting, design-wise is the "Heure Selenite", which also has diamonds on the dial. IN this case, though, they serve to realise a specific design, that of the moon crescent in a night full of stars. The dial consists of onyx, mother-of-pearl and black and white diamonds. I like this watch.
Also rather unusual is the "Date Astrale", featuring a retrograde date, indicated by a diamond marker moving along the date scale. Unfortunately, the latter is very small, so it is barely possible to read the date, even with young eyes. The dial su**ce is made from mother-of-pearl, that changes its colour and shine nicely, depending on the ambient light.
A bubbly feeling arises when looking at the "Heure Celeste": Around the eccentric time display, several spheres are rising from the su**ce, set with diamonds of various colours, or gold-coated. The nicest effect is seen when looked at the watch from the side.
But now, let's have a look at the boys' watches. The Grande Seconde sports watch was shown already last year, but only with a stainless steel case. this model proved very successful on the market, and is now complemented by the sports watch in 18k pink gold and steel with black PVD coating. Both have a dial combining metal with rubber, and luminous hands. Diameter is 45mm and the movement has a gold rotor with PVD finish.
Next one is a very attractive variant of the well known JD perpetual calendar. Following the current fashion, this one is black overall, but with typical JD-style care for details. The case is made from black ceramic, and the hands are coated with black gold. The dial is black opaline.
In a similar outfit comes the Reserve de Marche Ceramique, but with a power reserve in six different colour tones, with matching second hand. This adds a nice spot of colour to an otherwise very monochrome watch, with ceramic case and black gold hands.
Power Reserve in 18k pink gold
Black in black is a nice-fitting suit also for the chronograph with big date:
A new model is the beautiful Rattrapante, also with big date, presented in 18k pink gold with black enamel dial. Diameter is 45mm, and the edition is limited to 88 pieces.
Finally, the "Douze Villes" world timer with jumping hour is released in pink gold, and a diameter of 43mm.
Finally? But no, there is one other novelty, and this one is my personal 2009 Jaquet Droz favourite: Called "L'Origine Email", this watch is JD's concession to a more difficult economic situation. The "L'Origine" is simply a simple beauty, a watch without any ornaments or complications, but the concentrate of Jaquet Droz' virtues. The finely finished Piguet selfwinding movement powers a watch with only three hands, hour, minute and a big central sweep second. The case material is limited to stainless steel, with a diameter of 43mm. Dials are in either ivory or black plain enamel, limited to 88 pieces each. Hands are in white gold or blued steel. This watch is offered at a price that is far outside the level JD watches normally are positioned in: 9,990 Swiss Franks. For me, this is one of the most beautiful watches I have seen at the entire fair, and I am heavily thinking about acquiring one.
Unfortunately, my overly dense appointment schedule prevented me from paying the breathtaking table clock "La machine à écrire le temps" a visit. I had seen it in early prototype stage last year, and have heard it is more or less completed this year. Hopefully, I can write a full report on it next year.
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