Jaquet Droz Lady 8 Watch

Increasingly, watchmakers are trying to reach that important female demographic. Advertising campaigns for much of 2014 from major watch brands will heavily appeal to women, and more and more brands are looking to reach women watch lovers online. I suppose they feel that us men are already well served? While it is true that men and women tend to differ in what appeals to them about watches, each is an important market. What many people don't know is that some of your favorite men's watchmakers make most of their money by selling ladies watches. The best selling watch at Rolex? A two-tone ladies' Datejust. Patek Philippe makes pretty amazing and complicated timepieces for men but their most important sales segment is diamond-decorated quartz watches for women. In a sense, many of the most interesting men's watches are funded by timepieces for women.

So we try to cover interesting women's watches from time to time. The types of pieces that we might like to wear if we happened to wake up one morning and find that we suddenly represented the fairer sex. This is the 2013 Lady 8 watch by Jaquet Droz. I know what you are thinking... yes, another timepieces that revolves around the "lucky number 8" which seems to do so well in Chinese cultures. Yes, it is true that "8 themed" watches do well in China, but you don't need to care much at all about the number (or what word it may sounds like) to appreciate this collection.

If you don't know why the watch is called the Lady 8 then perhaps you haven't given it a close enough look. The entire case is shaped in a figure eight style design, which also happens to be the overall look of the dial on Jaquet Droz Grande Seconde collection timepieces. Here rather than the dial, the entire case shape features the design. The case is also slightly curved to fit over one's wrist easily, which is a nice touch.

Available in steel, 18k white gold, or 18k red gold, the case is 35mm wide at its widest point. Depending on the version, the case is decorated with various amounts of diamonds or brown garnet stones (for the red gold version), and a unique material is used for the smaller part of the "8." This is actually one of the most interesting and tactile elements of the design.