The exquisite Two Minute Tourbillon from Jean Daniel Nicolas

Jean Daniel Nicolas is, of course, the private brand of M. Daniel Roth (the man).

Previous posts have highlighted the extremely personal, labour-intensive approach of this famous watchmaker, since leaving the company which bears his name.

I was honoured to meet M. Roth at the Maîtres du Temps salon during Baselworld this week. And he had a very special piece with him: a two-minute tourbillon watch in a round case (he is better known for the elongated cases which are still used by the Daniel Roth manufacture).

Here are some photos of the watch which he was wearing on his wrist. Just look at the workmanship. The finishing of the tourbillon bridge and cage is exquisite.

The dial has a co-axially mounted small hand to indicate its 60-hour power reserve.

M. Roth has engraved this piece in the art nouveau style on both sides, where dial and tourbillon aperture meet, with "No. 0" on the left and "JDN" on the right.

I especially like the black-polished base plate which reflects the watch's tourbillon.

The back is more subtle, but just as exquisite - a full plate with cut-outs for the winding gears, and featuring a most unusual pattern of vertical stripes. Not quite Côtes de Genève, the individual engraving marks are curved in an almost 180º arc to give an effect which looks understated at some angles, and incredibly three-dimensional at others. I imagine this is not easy to do.

The final image shows the unusual profile of the lugs M. Roth has employed on his watch. (The caseband bears the typical "swirlies" of a timepiece which has been worn - by M. Roth himself!)

I hope you enjoyed this photoessay of a remarkable watch from a remarkable, yet very humble watchmaker. I wish him well in his new collaborative venture with two other fine watchmakers, M. Roger Dubuis (the man) and Mr. Peter Speake-Marin, under the Maîtres du Temps umbrella.

Cheers
Tony P