Established just a decade ago in 2004, Romain Jerome is certainly iconoclastic, to put mildly. Its designs range from space-age futuristic to 19th century industrial, with memorable past releases including a collection with bezels containing materials salvaged from the sunken Titanic, and a separate series with dials crafted from lava stone ejected by Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano.
The brand’s new release expands upon its nautical themed Steampunk collection, and comes just in time for summer. Essentially variations of the existing Steampunk Auto collection, the new Steampunk Auto Colours range has been updated with a cleaner look whilst simultaneously increasing the watches’ visibility with dashes of colour.
Entries from the Steampunk Auto Colours collection share a black PVD-coated steel case, which measures a hefty 50mm. Staying true to its namesake, the watch’s Calibre RJ-001-AS self-winding movement has been partially skeletonised – the blackened bridges with circular graining have been exposed – to go along with the visible screws, hand-worked indices and Romain Jerome’s signature screwed-down pistons with visible springs. The resultant look is steampunk through and through, and calls to mind the metallic and blackened engine rooms of the industrial revolution. In a nod to its nautical inspiration, the small seconds at nine o’clock comes in the shape of a propeller in lieu of a normal hand, while the hour and minute hands are shaped like anchors.
And now the highlight, literally. Timepieces from the collection feature matching coloured logos, crowns and Roman numeral hour markers at six and 12 o’clock. Your choice colours include red, orange, yellow, green, blue and white. In addition, the black alligator leather strap on each watch comes with matching coloured stitching, to create an overall look of a coloured accent on black with each watch. Each colour from the collection is limited to 99 pieces, and the watches will go for US$16,950 each. Summertime is already starting to look more vibrant.
