The new Jaquet Droz Magic Lotus Automaton brings an enchanting and exceptionally long animation - running for more than four minutes - on the dial of the watch with animals and plants coming to life in a peaceful Zen garden. The Jaquet Droz Magic Lotus Automaton measures 43 mm in diameter and is available in a choice of red gold (ref. J032633270) or white gold (ref. J032634270) with a price of Euro 200,000 plus local taxes.
The new Jaquet Droz Magic Lotus Automaton features an enchanting and exceptionally long animation - running for more than four minutes - with animals and plants coming to life in a peaceful Zen garden.
The Swiss watchmaker represents the perpetual cycle of life with four lotus flowers, one for each season or stage of life.
A mother-of-pearl button at 3 o’clock symbolizes the unopened Lotus bud. In relief upon a corolla of gold petals, it evokes the first season: spring.
To its left, a Lotus flower in full bloom is the symbol for summer. This simple miniature incorporates a number of Jaquet Droz decorative techniques. The petals are carved from mother-of-pearl, and finished with a thin coat of translucent paint that accentuates the relief. At its heart a yellow sapphire with gold prongs represents the pistil and stamens, poised to fly away and give life in turn to new Lotus flowers.
By its side, a Lotus flower fallen onto the water represents the third season, fall, carried away by the current. Finally, winter is marked at 6 o'clock by the seed pod of the aquatic plant.
In this season the pod sinks to the bottom of the water to be naturally buried, thus protecting the precious seeds that will foster new Lotus flowers the following spring. Jaquet Droz sets the pod with seven diamonds that represent the seeds – visible symbols of the life glittering within.
The dial of the Magic Lotus Automaton comprises three sections. The first is static: the onyx watch dial with gold hour and minute hands. It is surrounded by a crescent-shaped fixed disk that attaches the Lotus life cycle to the piece, with reed stems and three suspended Lotus leaves in Grand Feu enamel on a white gold or red gold base.
This composition of four seasons is suspended above the third peripheral disk, which fully rotates. It represents the perpetual movement of the water. Bobbing gold water lilies reveal the eddies of the water.
This mobile disk houses two animations. The first is a Koi, a fish famed for its longevity and a symbol of courage and perseverance. It flaps its tails, creating the illusion that it is swimming through the water, while also moving vertically up and down, enabling it to move in the flowing river and dive beneath the Lotus leaves.
Hand carved in gold, the Koi is complemented by the floating Lotus animation opposite. Mother-of-pearl petals surround an unprecedented movement at the heart of the Lotus: each time it passes beneath the dial or leaves, it acquires a new stone – alternately blue sapphire, yellow sapphire and ruby.
The same stone never appears in the same place from one rotation to the next. The colour of the Lotus heart changes, invisibly, four times for every rotation around the river, and the same stone is never seen twice in a row.
Even the caseback has a lot to offer with bridges and oscillating weight hand-engraved with naturalist motifs, with carp and Lotus flowers echoing the carvings on the dial side. The non-engraved elements on the movement are also decorated (circular graining, drawn strokes) and chamfered by hand.
Subject of four patents pending, this exceptional automatic movement contains more than 500 components. Its balance wheel beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour with a power reserve of 68 hours.
Jaquet Droz also found a way to show the progress of the four-minute animation (eight full rotations of 30 seconds each): a hand-painted and hand-carved dragonfly in red gold positioned between 8 and 9 o'clock moves downward with the power reserve of the animation, which can be fully wound by the crown. When the power reserve is empty, the dragonfly rests on a Lotus leaf.
The Jaquet Droz Magic Lotus Automaton measures 43 mm in diameter and is available in a choice of red gold (ref. J032633270) or white gold (ref. J032634270) with a price of Euro 200,000 plus local taxes. Both versions are limited series of 28 pieces only. jaquet-droz.com
Suggested reading:
- Our visit to the Ateliers Jaquet Droz
By its side, a Lotus flower fallen onto the water represents the third season, fall, carried away by the current. Finally, winter is marked at 6 o'clock by the seed pod of the aquatic plant.
In this season the pod sinks to the bottom of the water to be naturally buried, thus protecting the precious seeds that will foster new Lotus flowers the following spring. Jaquet Droz sets the pod with seven diamonds that represent the seeds – visible symbols of the life glittering within.
The dial of the Magic Lotus Automaton comprises three sections. The first is static: the onyx watch dial with gold hour and minute hands. It is surrounded by a crescent-shaped fixed disk that attaches the Lotus life cycle to the piece, with reed stems and three suspended Lotus leaves in Grand Feu enamel on a white gold or red gold base.
This composition of four seasons is suspended above the third peripheral disk, which fully rotates. It represents the perpetual movement of the water. Bobbing gold water lilies reveal the eddies of the water.
This mobile disk houses two animations. The first is a Koi, a fish famed for its longevity and a symbol of courage and perseverance. It flaps its tails, creating the illusion that it is swimming through the water, while also moving vertically up and down, enabling it to move in the flowing river and dive beneath the Lotus leaves.
Hand carved in gold, the Koi is complemented by the floating Lotus animation opposite. Mother-of-pearl petals surround an unprecedented movement at the heart of the Lotus: each time it passes beneath the dial or leaves, it acquires a new stone – alternately blue sapphire, yellow sapphire and ruby.
The same stone never appears in the same place from one rotation to the next. The colour of the Lotus heart changes, invisibly, four times for every rotation around the river, and the same stone is never seen twice in a row.
Even the caseback has a lot to offer with bridges and oscillating weight hand-engraved with naturalist motifs, with carp and Lotus flowers echoing the carvings on the dial side. The non-engraved elements on the movement are also decorated (circular graining, drawn strokes) and chamfered by hand.
Subject of four patents pending, this exceptional automatic movement contains more than 500 components. Its balance wheel beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour with a power reserve of 68 hours.
The Jaquet Droz Magic Lotus Automaton measures 43 mm in diameter and is available in a choice of red gold (ref. J032633270) or white gold (ref. J032634270) with a price of Euro 200,000 plus local taxes. Both versions are limited series of 28 pieces only. jaquet-droz.com
Suggested reading:
- Our visit to the Ateliers Jaquet Droz
Incredible creation. A demonstration of the art of these people for future generations.
ReplyDeleteTrue magic. I would like to have the possibility to wear it sooner or later!
ReplyDelete