More Space Invaders Watches With A Price Tag That Is Outta This World from Romain Jerome.

The watchmaker Romain Jerome is best known for his luxury watches that incorporate the DNA of legendary things and landmarks. Inspired and paying tribute to historical events of the last century, each watch integrates the DNA of a legend such as the Titanic (made with rusted steel from the wreckage), The Moon (made with actual moondust), The Statue of Liberty (a bronze bezel which recalls the Statue of Liberty's crown) and EYJAFJALLAJÖKULL (made with Volcanic ash and black lava rock). Each timepiece comes with a certificate of authenticity issued by a third party. As one would expect, these are very highly priced.

Now, he has collaborated with legendary video game maker, TAITO, to release his second round of limited edition SPACE INVADERS watches. Last year he introduced a white and multi-colored version (shown below).


above: Romain Jerome's first Space Invaders watches were available in multi-colored and an all white version coated with Superluminova so it glows in the dark


Now, the new SPACE INVADERS WATCHES come in four colors with a special blue one for Paris store Colette. The price is over $15,000 for the watch. Why? Read on.

Having inherited the highly distinctive case of the Moon Invader collection (a round shape inside a cambered 46 mm square), the SPACE INVADERS watches have kept the same steel coalesced with fragments of Apollo 11. The four functional ball-and-socket joints on the corners of the case are shaped like the legs of the lunar landing modules of the American lunar missions. These extremely sophisticated components mounted on axles anchored in the case hold the lugs of the rubber straps and enable the watch to adjust to all kinds of wrist sizes.



Embodying another tangible token of the space age symbolised by the SPACE INVADERS collection, a dedicated plate made of Moon Silver RJ – a silver alloy with an extremely low oxidation rate incorporating moon rocks – appears on the stellar-patterned back of the watch and reproduces the lunar surface.




The dial is very complex and consists of three layers: the first two are beadblasted and the "straight graining" gives a pixelated aspect to the third layer. Measuring around 3.5 mm each, the SPACE INVADERS are meticulously machined one by one, applied by hand and lacquered in various colours. These pixel invaders are a playful nod that transforms watches into inspired "talking pieces" capable of creating a distinct sense of affinity with those who wear them, and who revel in the chance to thumb their noses at classic watchmaking conventions.

The first release of the new collection is especially made for Colette, the über hip store and gallery in Paris.




The pixelated figures (aliens) are the emblematic blue color of the store for a limited edition of eight pieces, only available in the trendy boutique. Buy it here

The SPACE INVADERS are available in four other colours (red, green, purple and yellow) and have started their incursion in all RJ-Romain Jerome points of sale worldwide. Limited editions of eight pieces per color, five new colorful legends have made their entrance at RJ-Romain Jerome.






Check out the two-part video of the watch being made:



The price? $15,368.43 (£11,753.12) (€14,900)
Maison Romain Jerome

Funky Find of The Week: Watches Made From Parts Of The Titanic!

Titanic Resurfaces as Luxury Watch, BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) -- Steel and coal from the Titanic have been transformed into a new line of luxury wristwatches that claim to capture the essence of the legendary ocean liner which sank in 1912.

"It is very luxurious and very inaccessible," said Yvan Arpa, chief executive of the three-year-old company that hopes the limited edition watches will attract both collectors and garrulous luxury goods buyers.


Ivan Arpa, CEO of "Romain Jerome" presents the "Titanic-DNA" watch that contains authentic parts of the Titanic ocean liner drawn from the ocean floor.
"So many rich people buy incredibly complicated watches without understanding how they work, because they want a story to tell," Arpa said. "To them we offer a story."

The North Atlantic wreck site of the Titanic, which hit an iceberg and sank on its first voyage from the English port of Southampton to New York, have been protected for more than a decade but many relics were taken in early diving expeditions.

Romain Jerome said it purchased a piece of the hull weighing about 1.5 kg (3 pounds) that was retrieved in 1991, but declined to identify the seller. The metal has been certified as authentic by the Titanic's builders Harland and Wolff.

To make the watches, which were offered for sale for the first time in Basel for between $7,800 and $173,100, the Swiss company created an alloy using the slab from the Titanic with steel being used in a Harland and Wolff replica of the vessel.



The gold, platinum and steel time pieces have black dial faces made of lacquer paint that includes coal recovered from the debris field of the Titanic wreck site, offered for sale by the U.S. company RMS Titanic Inc.

Arpa said the combination of new and old materials infused the watches with a sense of renewal, instead of representing a reminder of the 1,500 passengers who drowned when the ocean liner met her tragic end off the coast of Newfoundland.

"It is a message of hope, of life stronger than death, of rebirth," he said in an interview in Romain Jerome's exposition booth in Basel, where more than 2,100 exhibitors are flaunting their latest wares amid a boom for the luxury goods sector.



The company will make 2,012 watches to coincide with the centenary anniversary of the Titanic's sinking in 2012. Arpa said the young watchmaker would unveil a new series next year commemorating another famous legend, but declined to offer clues of what it is.

UPDATE: since this post, the titanic DNA collection of watches has expanded to include ceramic watches, gem encrusted versions and more:







See the full collection and learn more here.