Jaquet Droz Petite Heure Minute Thousand Year Lights

01

Photo: Hannah Khymych

If the degree to which a watch dial pops is a measure of its artistic quality, then the Jaquet Droz Thousand Year Lights collection is an unquestioned masterpiece. The dials of these five limited-edition watches (each capped at 28 examples) seem to radiate with intense color. The pieces take artistic inspiration from the traditional Korean decorative technique called Najeon-chilgi, which is renowned for its intricate combinations of lacquer and mother-of-pearl—the same materials that give these watches their visual presence. The mother-of-pearl dial is covered in polished lacquer and then engraved by Jaquet Droz’s artisans, who carve fine lines in the jet-black surface to reveal the shimmering nacre beneath. This intaglio engraving method creates recesses for colored lacquer, which in thin layers also seems to glow thanks to the underlying mother-of-pearl. 888.866.0059 ($39,900–$51,500).