Baltic and SpaceOne simply made some of the surprising watches of 2026

Two of France’s most distinctive watchmakers have made a watch collectively. Baltic and SpaceOne, manufacturers that actually don’t have any enterprise collaborating, have finished precisely that, and the result’s the Seconde Majeure.

The 2 manufacturers couldn’t be extra completely different. Baltic does vintage-inspired, heritage-soaked watches, whereas SpaceOne makes issues that seem like they fell off a spacecraft. But the collaboration exists due to friendship (how candy).

Baltic’s Etienne Malec and SpaceOne’s Théo Auffret and Guillaume Laidet met in 2021, and 5 years later that bond has produced a watch.

And what a watch. The Seconde Majeure ditches conventional fingers totally, changing them with sapphire discs.

Hours seem at 12 o’clock, minutes at 6, each guided by arrow-tipped crosshairs. A big seconds hand sweeps above the entire association. I adore it.

The true technical story is the jumping-hour complication, developed by Auffret himself. A central management wheel completes one rotation each 60 minutes, partaking a 12-toothed star wheel that snaps the hour disc ahead.

A visual jumper spring gives the strain for that satisfying mechanical leap.

The entire mechanism is uncovered and readable via the dial – lower from a single piece of maillechort, which acts as each ornament and structural assist. It’s genuinely intelligent engineering.

The case is new floor for each manufacturers. At 38.5mm in 904L chrome steel, it takes cues from impartial watchmaking with a sophisticated concave bezel and low-hanging arched lugs that sit naturally on the wrist.

A beige Alcantara strap from Delugs finishes the bundle.

There are two dial choices can be found. The brushed model is clear and graphic, whereas the Charbonné end, utilized totally by hand in Auffret’s atelier, offers every bit a uniquely smoky, textured character. I’d take the Charbonné each time.

The Seconde Majeure opens for pre-order on twelfth Might and closes on seventeenth Might. Manufacturing is proscribed to no matter orders are positioned in these six days.

Costs begin at €2500 (approx. US$3000 / £2100) for the brushed model and €3500 (approx. US$4100 / £3000) for the Charbonné. Delivery is anticipated to start in November 2026.

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