Press release
On the occasion of Only Watch 2011, RJ-Romain Jerome has chosen to combine its DNA with that of the Principality of Monaco. The brand has found in the very rock on which the city is built the raw material serving as a dial for the one-of-a-kind model created for the auction on behalf of research into Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Philippe Mondielli, geologist and scientific director of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, accompanied by Luc Pettavino, President of the Monaco Association against Muscular Dystrophy, chose the western cliff of the Rock of Monaco, in the Saint-Martin gardens just a few steps away from the Cathedral and the Prince's Palace, as the ideal site from which to extract an extremely small portion of the limestone rock.
This fragment, considered as a testimony to the evolution of species over millions of years, now serves as the dial for the Rock the Rock DNA watch – forming a time-honoured face now framed by an ultra-contemporary matt black ceramic bezel. The central hour and minute hands mark off time in their own way, while the seconds set the cadence for a disc at 9 o'clock, also carved in stone.
This mineral plate rotating on the surface of the dial evokes the earth's crust and humankind's difficulty in mastering its movements. Two red lines cross through the watch – one passing under the bezel and continuing along the strap in alcantara. Each time the seconds disc moves to 0, 15, 30 and 45, these lines symbolise for a fleeting movement the latitude and longitude coordinates of Monaco, the very place where the stone was taken from the Rock.
This unique timepiece is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity guaranteeing the origin of the materials used.
