Moon Dust-DNA Celestial purity for the RJ-Romain Jerome Steel Mood
Black Mood expresses lunar time with a PVD-blackened steel instrument featuring a round 46 mm case carrying the iconic RJ-Romain Jerome “paws” and topped by a carbon fibre-coated bezel with a soul forged from fragments of Apollo 11. The date of that historical mission has naturally inspired the number of this limited edition: 1969. Its “instrumental” vocation is further highlighted by the red anodised titanium pusher at 2 o’clock, serving to start and stop the chronograph driven by a self-winding movement. The reset button at 4 o’clock is also notched.
The black dial is a hand-sculpted depiction of the lunar surface and its material contains a small amount of the precious Moon Dust – of which only a few thousand grams have been brought back to Earth. The circular seconds counter at 9 o’clock features a four-blade “hand” evoking satellite solar panels (one of the blades is red in order to serve as a time marker). The deliberately oxidised black hour and minutes hands are coated with “blue emission” Superluminova. Devotees of astro-horological missions will be able to opt for the alligator strap with woven textile and carbon fibres recovered from ISS spacesuits…
With the Steel Mood, the Moon Dust-DNA treats itself to a poetic flight of fancy into the dreamlike purity of watchmaking Moonlight. The chronograph carries all the distinctive RJ-Romain Jerome design codes (a round 46 mm case with four “paws”, screw-locked lugs, large notched pushers including a red anodised start button, and a four-blade propeller shaped like satellite solar panels with a red seconds marker), but the dial appears in a “lunar grey” livery (also containing dust from the Moon of which it evokes the surface); and the bezel is made from carbon fibres (with a steel base made as always from a fusion between steel and fragments of the Apollo 11 capsule – hence the 1969-piece limited edition). The black rubber strap confirms this dreamlike dimension of a Moon that transcends changing times and fashions, although future owners may also choose a black leather strap reinforced by technical fibres from an ISS spacesuit.