Paris watchmaker Théo Auffret and entrepreneur Guillaume Laidet make SpaceOne watches in the style of the 1960s space age, with complications developed in Auffret’s own workshop.
Two founders, one theme
SpaceOne is a collaboration between Théo Auffret, an independent watchmaker from Paris, and Guillaume Laidet, a watch entrepreneur. Its design draws on space exploration and on the space-age style that took hold during the space race of the 1960s.
The first collection came in three materials: stainless steel, titanium and forged carbon. The steel version weighs 90 grams, titanium 60 grams and forged carbon 30 grams, before the strap and buckle.
The jumping hour
The first SpaceOne is a jumping hour. Auffret’s workshop developed the mechanism itself, and it is made up of nine parts. The minute disc is made of sapphire for maximum transparency, under what the brand calls a sapphire cockpit.
The components are made in Switzerland, and the watches are assembled in France in a dedicated workshop. Inside is a Swiss Soprod P024 automatic movement, beating at 4Hz with 38 hours of power reserve. The case measures 42 x 51.67mm and is 12.6mm thick.
Variations followed. The Destro versions are made for left-handed wearers, and the Back To Earth edition is hand-flamed to look like a space shuttle re-entering the atmosphere.
Tellurium and WorldTimer
The Tellurium was designed by Olivier Gamiette, who designs Peugeot cars by day and watches by night. In 2015 he published a book showing dozens of his watch designs. On an aventurine dial, two titanium spheres, Earth and its Moon, circle a central Sun. Only the hours and minutes have hands.
The complication is a module designed by Auffret, made in Switzerland and assembled in Paris on an extra plate above the Soprod P024. A ring with 365 teeth carries the planets round once a year. The Moon orbits the Earth in 27.3 days and completes a lunar cycle in 29.5 days, following the real rhythms. The brand says the module is patented and shows the positions of Earth and Moon for more than 100 years. A jumping date and a sliding month sit with it, and with careful setting the watch can anticipate the next full moon.
The WorldTimer drops hands altogether. Rotating discs show the minutes at 3 o’clock, the seconds in the centre and 12-hour time at 6 o’clock. At 9 o’clock, two coaxial discs show 24-hour time and the matching cities. Auffret developed and assembled the complication in France, and Gamiette designed the watch.
Made in Paris
Assembly is slow work. Each Tellurium takes 65 operations, including pressing, riveting, gluing and casing. The complication takes an hour to assemble and the rest of the watch another hour, followed by 48 hours of testing.
SpaceOne has opened a showroom in Paris, next to its new workshop. Its product pages close with the same three words: manufactured on Earth.
At a glance
- Founders: Théo Auffret and Guillaume Laidet
- Based in: Paris, France
- Known for: space-age design; jumping hour, Tellurium and WorldTimer complications developed by Théo Auffret
Sources: SpaceOne’s own website (The Brand, Tellurium, Tellurium specifications, WorldTimer collection, Contact, and product pages for the WorldTimer Titanium, Destro and Back To Earth editions).