In Depth · Jaquet Droz

Can Jaquet Droz make a sculpted dial tell time?

Les Volumes du Temps moves the hours and minutes onto discs beneath deep blue enamel. Its auction estimate reflects a unique piece built around the reading of time.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 4 min read · 10 October 2026

Reading time around an X

A watch without hands risks making the simplest task, telling the time, needlessly difficult. Jaquet Droz accepts that risk for a dial built as a small piece of sculpture, with hours and minutes carried on moving discs below an enamelled structure. It will be offered at the TimeForArt auction in New York on 5 December 2026, according to the brand's press material. The question is whether the unusual display invites a closer reading or gets in its own way. The watch is Jaquet Droz Les Volumes du Temps.

The centre of the dial is an X-shaped arrangement of two opposing forms. Jaquet Droz says their height rises towards the middle and falls towards the case edge, so the structure is genuinely three-dimensional rather than a flat motif given shadows in a photograph. The surfaces are hand-engraved with a sunray pattern before enamelling. In the frontal image the X separates the minute display above from the hour display below. That division is crucial: the sculpture frames the information instead of replacing it with an abstract gesture.

Forty blue fields, two moving discs

On either side of the central form, Jaquet Droz arranges about forty small geometric enamel fields, ranging through blues. The brand uses hand-applied Grand Feu champlevé enamel, so the pattern is a material surface, not a printed simulation of depth. The fields taper towards the two discs, drawing attention inwards. Blue can swallow detail when used across a complicated dial, yet the lighter borders between these pieces give the eye a route through it in the supplied photographs. The result looks closer to stained glass than to a conventional watch face.

The hour and minute discs move behind their windows, with a central circle indicating each reading. That is different from jumping numerals, which would change abruptly, and from traditional hands, which sweep openly over the dial. Jaquet Droz describes the discs as dragging, or trailing, displays. The press image lets us see the basic logic, although it cannot prove how quickly a glance would read the time in poor light or at an angle. I would want to handle it before calling the display intuitive. Its appeal is that the reading asks you to look properly.

The case is 18-carat white gold, 41 mm in diameter and 13.78 mm high. That height gives the enamelled forms room to rise, but it also sets expectations for a substantial object rather than an especially discreet dress watch. The press material does not publish a water-resistance rating, crystal detail or lug-to-lug measurement, so those are not part of the argument here. What the images do show is a bright metal rim around a saturated blue interior. The frame stays visually quiet while the centre performs.

A movement behind the theatrical dial

Turn the watch over and Jaquet Droz identifies its JD2653.SI movement, with an 18-carat white-gold oscillating weight carrying an onyx appliqué. The brand gives a 68-hour power reserve. Those are the published mechanical details; the press sheet does not provide a frequency or jewel count. The caseback photograph is useful because it shifts the emphasis from enamel to a comparatively restrained view of the automatic calibre. Even here the onyx forms a dark field, tying the rear to the dial without trying to repeat its geometry.

Jaquet Droz fits a rubber strap and an 18-carat white-gold folding clasp. A rubber strap may sound incongruous next to a unique white-gold enamel piece, but in the official images its blue texture carries the colour beyond the case and stops the watch looking like a formal object stranded on leather. The dial was designed by Fiona Djukanovic, whom the brand identifies as a student at the Académie de Meuron. That connection matters because the auction's proceeds are intended to support young artistic talent through the Swiss Institute; the designer is part of the story, not a name added to a catalogue entry.

Jaquet Droz Les Volumes du Temps pricing and availability

Les Volumes du Temps is a unique piece, reference J0050240021, to be offered at TimeForArt in New York on 5 December 2026. The brand's press sheet gives an estimate of CHF 100,000 to CHF 150,000 including Swiss VAT, not a fixed sale price. Auction results may differ from that range. This is a watch whose value cannot be reduced to the difficulty of reading its discs: the enamel, engraving and sculptural construction are the point. Still, the display earns its complexity by giving the hours and minutes a clear place within the work, rather than asking the owner to guess where time went.