The legend beyond legendsRJ Romain Jerome MOON INVADER: The secret codes of a new legend
RJ Romain Jerome transcends the legend with its new collection: MOON INVADER amplifies the emotions of the epic lunar saga. Four decades after Apollo 11, the Moon has colonised our imagination far more than we have colonised it. The Moon is in us. It is ours. It was, is and will be the first step in our future conquest of the solar system, taking us towards Mars and the asteroids, before we change star. The Moon is our secret code. The adventure is relaunched with MOON INVADER: a reality that is stronger than fiction.
Astronauts have to conquer gravity – yet that is not the worst form of weightiness. MOON INVADER is the fatal weapon of those who wish to escape the bonds of tradition in order to imagine other ways of conceiving legends. MOON INVADER is a distillate of new ideas. An aesthetic vision. A technological challenge. A mythological breakthrough.
The case
A technically complex 46 mm new case to frame the lunar legend, featuring a more bevelled yet delightfully rounded cushion shape that is almost a rectangle on its hidden side, made from steel coalesced by fusion with spare parts from Apollo 11. Each watch is thereby literally pervaded by memories of the lunar adventure. This case designed like a safe is an alchemist's crucible: a spaceship capable of exploring boundless horizons, while carrying in its hold Moon seeds that sow dreams.
Screws and ball-and-socket joints
The functional ball-and-socket joints in the four “corners” of the “squared circle” featured on the case are cut like the feet of the lunar landing module. These extremely sophisticated components mounted on axles anchored in the case hold the lugs of the rubber strap. They enable the watch to adjust to all wrist sizes. This comfort-enhancing characteristic also creates an immediately recognisable visual identity. As the signature feature of the MOON INVADER, the RJ security screws with four ball-and-socket joints are echoed on the functional movement-locking screw on the watch case-back. These screws evoke the futuristic codes of contemporary astronautics.
Aesthetics and the dial
While maintaining the symbolic X that has become a tradition on RJ dials, the MOON INVADER line treats itself to a “mesh pattern” directly inspired by the woven metal strands on the tires of lunar roving vehicles. On the multi-layered dial, this gridwork pattern creates a high-tech screen effect never yet used in the watch industry and which lends a symbolic functional element to the new collection codes. Each of the four zones of this meshing appears on the dial in one of the areas formed by the emblematic RJ X motif. The inner bezel rings are hand-applied, polished and drawn; like the hands, they are openworked and enriched with superluminova (creating an electric blue luminescent effect at night).
There is infinite aesthetic subtlety in the offset position of the lugs in relation to the axes of the central X; a great deal of elegance in the way the round minute circle is superimposed on the dial grid, or how the counters are integrated within the dial structure; and a beautifully balanced effect in the respective proportions of the case, the ball-and-socket joints, the dial and the crown.
Case-back
The promise embodied in the special MOON SILVER plate on the stellar case-back of the watch is a powerful promise of the Moon on the wrist – thanks to a silver alloy boasting an extremely low oxidisation rate and incorporating moon rocks. This engraved plate depicts the lunar surface, of which the mineral particles interact on an infra-molecular level with the wearer of the watch. The Moon within reach, like a talisman to help keep your feet firmly planted on Earth. The veined pattern and grainy texture on the case-back evoke the future superstructures of lunar colonisation bases. These motifs also extend along the rubber strap. The security screw locks the access “hatch” to the movement of the MOON INVADER.