Fascinated by our Universe and man’s accomplishments, RJ-Romain Jerome re-interprets contemporary history through the design of a new and aesthetically advanced timepiece, the Skylab.
RJ-Romain Jerome celebrates “Orbital” accomplishments
Fascinated by our Universe and man’s accomplishments, RJ-Romain Jerome re-interprets contemporary history through the design of a new and aesthetically advanced timepiece, the Skylab.
The infinity of space has intrigued mankind for centuries. When Magellan established the spherical shape of our planet or when Galileo, the father of modern observational astronomy, discovered Heliocentrism*, the reality of space changed the vision of contemporary dreamers.
In honour of these discoveries, the iconoclastic brand has imagined a new timepiece with an avant-garde design that features RJ-Romain Jerome’s first skeleton timepiece, the Skylab.
Named after NASA’s first space station and celebrating the 40th anniversary of its launch, RJ-Romain Jerome has designed its Skylab featuring a skeleton structure housed in a 44 mm case that recalls the original space station and its revolutionary construction by combining sleek lines and a complex system of solar panels.
The generous yet refined case nests a complex five layered skeleton giving place to one’s imagination: every single component of the movement looks like it is floating in space carefully held by angled bridges that recall the geometrical patterns of a computer mother board.
At the same time, the transparent sapphire glass at the back enhances the sense of zero gravity highlighting the single barrel at 12 o’clock and revealing the balance wheel at 6 o’clock while the RJ-Romain Jerome’s monogram subtly appears at 3 o’clock on the inferior level.
Externally, the timepieces’ paws have been enlarged to enhance this new model while the lugs have been hollowed to lighten the watch and create a unique case closing system with fewer visible screws than on a regular timepiece.
By enabling the main parts of the movement to be seen, the architecture of the skeleton shines in anthracite or represents the infinity of space in black PVD coated-steel, both declinations are finished with a hand drawn stroke. True to the DNA of the brand each watch contains material from Apollo 11 mission on the bezel. Also available in 5N Rose Gold, the Skylab timepieces echo the brightness of a stellar system seen from a porthole.
The Skylab is a combination of Man’s never-ending imagination through the looking glass of a fantasy world and his thirst for knowledge and discovery of unknown territories.
The brands new design is a testimony to the conquest of space and the underlying dreams that made it possible.
* Astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around a relatively stationary Sun at the center of the Solar System. (Source: Wikipedia)