Introducing – RJ-Romain Jerome Skylab Speed Metal 48 Skulls

When you think about RJ-Romain Jerome, you know it’s going to be bold, to be large and to boast rather unique inspirations (well, there are few brands inspired by steampunk, the Titanic, Batman or PAC-MAN…). There’s another theme that RJ-Romain Jerome cherishes: skulls. Like it or not (the skull-head is a recurrent inspiration in watchmaking), the brand knows how to incrust them in a watch, with quite some style. And the RJ-Romain Jerome Skylab Speed Metal 48 Skulls that we’re about to show you won’t break the lineage, but however adds more watchmaking content and lightness to these bold watches.

RJ-Romain Jerome is quite special for Monochrome-Watches… well, especially for our contributor Robin, who actually loves these watches. We might not all share this same attraction but this is what you should expect with this sort of watches, with bold design, strong inspirations and large dimensions. One thing is sure, they will never be called “shy“. And that’s fine. In a market that is usually quite conservative and consensual, RJ-Romain Jerome dare. They dare to do a watch with Super-Mario, PAC-MAN or Batman on the dial… and not a Flik-Flak one, but a watch with an automatic movement and a complex case – and a price that is not in the same range as a Flik-Flak either. Their watches are quite unique and that must be regarded as an interesting point.

However, RJ-Romain Jerome watches are not just about a strong design and some gimmicks on the dial. On certain editions, they can bring some mechanical pleasure too. For instance, they can play on the display, with the Spacecraft or the Subcraft. They can also introduce watches with a nice skeleton movement, like the Skylab – which is certainly the RJ edition that create the largest unanimity at the redaction. The positive point today is that the latter serves as a base for a new edition, bearing skulls, but in a “lighter” way than before: the RJ-Romain Jerome Skylab Speed Metal 48 Skulls.

The Skylab Speed Metal 48 Skulls shares its case and movement with the original Skylab. We have a two-tone 48mm case, alternating between a black central container in black-PVD coated steel, with polished steel inserts on the flanks and steel lugs. This bold case is secured on the wrist by an equally bold black crocodile horseback strap, with red stitching. The real novelty comes from the insertion of skulls in the design. While the RJ-Romain Jerome H9C-DNA (which shares the same base movement) was showing a large skull-head on top, this RJ-Romain Jerome Skylab Speed Metal 48 Skulls brings more of them, but in a more discreet way.

A new inner flange, in satin-finehed stainless steel, is inserted around the movement and features 12 small skulls, in red enamel, being used as hour indexes. For the rest, the watch remains identical to the Skylab, with large opened arrow hands and a movement inspired by the structure of Apollo 11 skylab. This skeleton movement offers an intricate view on all the technical elements (balance wheel, escapement, gear train and barrel) and is designed in a modern and graphic way. It displays the hours, minutes and seconds (in a separated dial at 8:30) and boasts 48 hours of power reserve. The bridges are here coated in black.

The RJ-Romain Jerome Skylab Speed Metal 48 Skulls will be limited to 9 pieces and priced at CHF 18,950 / EUR 20,950 / USD 23,500.

Specifications of the RJ-Romain Jerome Skylab Speed Metal 48 Skulls

• Case: 48mm diameter – black-PVD coated steel with polished steel inserts and lugs – sapphire crystal on front and caseback – 30m water resistant
• Movement: calibre RJ004-M – manual winding – power reserve of 48 hours – 28,800bph – hours, minutes, small second
• Strap: black crocodile horseback strap with red stitching, steel folding clasp