Every good watch brand needs some sort of visual shorthand to make it recognizable, and Jaquet Droz has managed to claim as its own a very old, very traditional style of timekeeping display: the figure-eight dial arrangement of one smaller subdial, usually for the hours and minutes, at the top, overlapping a larger subdial, usually for the independent, not-so-small seconds indication below. Lately, Jaquet Droz has even integrated other complications into this classical design ? which was a hallmark of early pocketwatches produced by the brand’s founder and namesake, Pierre Jaquet-Droz ? such as the GMT display in the Grande Seconde Dual Time watch I recently reviewed. The brand has also been having fun with variations on the look, sometimes striving for symmetry, other going for a more unbalanced look. The latter style is in evidence with the new Jaquet Droz Black Ceramic Power Reserve Clous de Paris, introduced at this year?s Baselworld and one of two new models with black ceramic cases and clous de Paris dial decoration.
As with most Jaquet Droz models, the case manages to be both demonstrably large (44 mm in diameter) and yet suitably elegant, with a very narrow, nigh-nonexistent bezel and a big, broad sapphire crystal with a subtle convex curve. The play of light and shadow over the case?s curves, including its ergonomically sloping lugs, is very appealing. The grooved winding crown is also draped in black, with the two tiny Jaquet Droz stars, only slightly perce...