For the past few years there has been increasing popularity of skull timepieces, if we can judge on watchmaking brands that are presenting models with skulls on their dials. It seems that skulls come in all forms, whether they are enameled, engraved or stylized, or with or without crossbones. The latest skull watch on the market comes from the Swiss watchmaking brand Pierre DeRoche who chose to set a skull at the center of the watch’s face on its newest addition dubbed the TNT Royal Retro Skull.
Pierre DeRoche TNT Royal Retro Skull Limited Edition timepiece extraordinary plays with light and shades. Contrasting nuances outline the shape of the watch’s main feature, the skull, using the “light trapping” method, thus providing a fascinating means of marrying metal with this promising form of expertise.
Encrusted with a distinctive laser-engraving technique, the skull looks colossal. The blue and luminous hour and second hands of the gladiator-sword style pass before its eye sockets. The exact date is displayed discretely on a white background at the 6 o’clock position.
Pierre DeRoche TNT Royal Retro Skull houses an amazing automatic caliber with six retrograde seconds mechanisms that has been specially developed by Dubois Dépraz. This type of mechanisms mean that the job of counting out a minute is split across 6 individual hands, each one counting out 10 seconds before jumping across the next one. Therefore, the retrograde seconds mechanism is parted in six 10-second sections on its dial.
The movement features decorated and engraved oscillating weight, central bridge, six chamfered and satin-finished seconds bridges and a minute wheel with the brand’s logo.
The black zones of the skull-shaped central bridge are formed using the method called “light trapping”, consisting in laser-engraving a motif by creating an engraving background featuring an irregular topography that hinders light from penetrating its surface.
The TNT Royal Retro Skull is housed in colossal case made of steel and black PVD-coated titanium measuring 47.50mm in diameter. The case incorporates a stunning bezel encrusted with 240 brilliant-cut diamonds (weighing approx. 1.10 carats). The case is shielded with a sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on both sides. The case offers water resistance down to 100 meters (about 330 feet) below the water’s surface.
Pierre DeRoche TNT Royal Retro Skull Limited Edition timepiece comes attached to a black alligator leather strap with blue stitching, ending with a safety folding clasp. The watch is issued in the ultra-limited series of only 5 pieces worldwide. The retail price is 24,800 CHF (approximately $25,800).
