Jaquet Droz Les Douze Villes

Although Jaquet Droz is not the first name that comes to mind when you start to think about Swiss watchmakers of the past, the patriarch of the industry may be more important for the human’s history than, say, Abraham Louis Breguet.

His famous automatas were the first androids on the face of the Earth, for that matters. Currently owned by the Swatch group, Jaquet Droz stays in a good company of such established brands as Breguet, Blancpain, Glashutte Original and Omega.

The Jaquet Droz Les Douze Villes belongs to a rather exclusive class of one-handed watches. However, one-handedness here is not a disability factor: sporting only a minute hand, the watch has a jumping hour indicator at 12 o’clock, which makes the watch even more legible than a normal time-telling device. Well, at least in good lighting conditions, because numerals on the hour indicator don’t seem to be covered with SuperLuminova or any other luminescent substance.

At 6 o’clock, the watch has another window with names of 12 cities (hence the “Les Douze Villes” name of the watch). Cycling through the names of the cities with a push of button, you will see the hour indicator changing to the respective time zone.

Quite handy, although you will still have to remember the difference between time zones when thinking about calling home.

Jaquet Droz Les Douze Villes watch’s specification:

Price range: 32,000 CHF
Movement: Jaquet Droz 5153, mechanical, automatic, double barrel, 28,800 vph, 22 ct white gold rotor
Complications: Jumping hour, second time-zone
Power reserve: 68 hours
Case material: 18-carat red gold
Case dimensions: 43 mm
Case height: N/A
Dial: Black Grand Feu enameled
Water resistance: 30 m
Strap: Rolled-edge hand made black alligator leather with 18-carat red gold ardillon buckle
Crystal: Sapphire