The new timepieces round off the collection inaugurated in 2005.
“When I was a kid,” recalls Carole Dubois, co-founder of Pierre DeRoche, “my grandfather taught me that to remember the months with 30 and 31 days, I only had to look at the troughs and ridges on the backs of my hands.”
It was from this simple answer to a complex question, Duboi continues, that the idea for the GrandCliff Annual Calendar was derived, to round off the brand’s collection.
In 1980, a brand no longer in existence presented what was probably the first annual calendar in wristwatch form. This fine feat was also the fruit of work by Dubois Dépraz. Forty years later, the complications specialist from the Joux Valley and Pierre DeRoche have pooled their know-how to revisit this subtle horological complication, with added refinement.
The sobriety of the gentlemen’s version and the delicacy of the ladies’ version round off the GrandCliff collection well, and reinforce the watch brand’s positioning as a horological complication specialist.
Ranked among the so-called useful or practical complications, the annual calendar is one of the iconic sophistications of watchmaking. It is also one that introduces a touch magic simplifying everyday life. By developing in parallel its gentlemen’s and ladies’ versions of the complication, Pierre DeRoche set out to restore its full prestige.
Hence 16 years after the launch of the very first GrandCliffs, the brand is increasing its collection by two models. True to the aesthetic codes of GrandCliff, they maintain, in a slightly slimmed-down diameter, the perfect poise and elegance of the series. In its resolutely feminine Milady version, the Annual Calendar offers complication lovers a rare occasion to assert their watchmaking affinities.
Three watchmaking calendars
An ingenious mechanism, the calendar adds to the time display on timepieces a calendar day reading, available in three different degrees of sophistication.
A simple calendar requires correction five times a year, for every month with fewer than 31 days. The more refined annual calendar correctly displays the date 364 days out of 365, only requiring correction when the day changes to March 1. Finally, the perpetual calendar manages the date correctly all year round, including leap years.
It was based on an annual calendar that Pierre DeRoche opted to design its new GrandCliffs. Equipped with a Dubois Dépraz module, the GrandCliff Annual Calendar and GrandCliff Milady Annual Calendar boast quick date correction via the crown, and quick month correction via a corrector.
By opting for a 32 mm mechanism, i.e. for a large-diameter date disc, Pierre DeRoche offers a particularly generous date display, and makes readability one of the top assets of its annual calendar.
Essential elegance
The newest member of the GrandCliff family, the new Pierre DeRoche Annual Calendar rounds off the collection inaugurated in 2005.
Thinner, and slightly smaller in diameter (41 mm vs. 42.5 mm), the new case of the GrandCliff Annual Calendar adopts the line’s aesthetic codes, its round shape, and the recognizable design of its horns, to perpetuate the perfect poise and fine elegance which have underpinned the collection’s success.
Featuring applique silver indices, the shaded black dial with velvety background highlights the annual calendar complication superbly. A generously-sized date window at 3 o’clock, plus a month indicator at 7 o’clock by means of a coloured red disc under the dial.
Enhanced with gray stitching, the corudra-look leather strap gives the GrandCliff Annual Calendar a final touch of the elegance.
Asserting femininity
In dreaming up the feminine version of its Annual Calendar, Pierre DeRoche wanted to offer watchmaking lovers a rare occasion to demonstrate their taste for mechanical subtleties, while proudly asserting their femininity.
Using the same Dubois Dépraz module as the masculine version, the GrandCliff Milady Annual Calendar dares to bedeck itself in finery traditionally regarded as typically feminine. Featuring a diamond-set bezel, the finely wrought silver-plated dial bears a sunray decoration at 3 o’clock, complemented by a date window with black writing on a white background.
The month indicator at 7 o’clock uses a counter with heart-shaped cut-outs. The displays are read via a burgundy-coloured disc to match the leather strap, plus the seconds hand.
