The Baltic × SpaceOne Seconde Majeure — Two Brands That Shouldn’t Work Together, and a Watch That Proves Otherwise

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The first time I lookedat this watch properly, I made a mistake. There is a black section sitting inthe lower half of the dial, a dark arc that I assumed, at first glance, was adesign element. A touch of contrast. Something added to break the visualmonotony of the sapphire surface above it. I was wrong. That black section istelling you the time. It is the minute indicator, a highlighted window thatmarks the current twenty-minute zone, and the enormous seconds hand sweepingacross the bottom of the dial is orbiting directly above it. I had been lookingat the complication for thirty seconds before I realised it was functioning.

That moment ofmisreading, then understanding, then genuine delight; that is the experiencethe Baltic × SpaceOne Seconde Majeure is designed to create. It is a watch thatrewards attention. And in a market flooded with releases that announcethemselves immediately and bore you within minutes, that quality is rarer thanany precious metal.

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TWO BRANDS, ONE UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP

Baltic and SpaceOneshould not make sense together. The logic of their individual identities runsin opposite directions.

Baltic, founded byÉtienne Malec and creatively directed by Jas Rewkiewicz, has built itsreputation on restraint. Vintage-inspired proportions, traditional case forms,classical dial layouts executed with a precision that punches far above thebrand’s price point. The Baltic MR, with its micro-rotor movement and cleanaesthetic, became one of the defining independent watch releases of itsgeneration. Baltic’s language is the language of horology’s past, refined forthe present.

SpaceOne, by contrast,looks forward, aggressively. Founded by serial entrepreneur Guillaume Laidet,the man behind the acclaimed revivals of Vulcain and Nivada Grenchen, SpaceOneoperates at the conceptual edge of what a watch can look like. Their pieces arearchitectural, futuristic, occasionally confrontational. If Baltic is awell-worn copy of George Daniels on a workshop shelf, SpaceOne is a blueprintfor something that hasn’t been built yet.

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“Born from friendship rather than strategy. The SecondeMajeure is what happens when two creative minds who respect each other decidethat their differences are a reason to collaborate, not a reason to stayapart.”

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The story begins in 2021,at a gathering of French watchmakers at Baltic’s Paris headquarters. ThéoAuffret, watchmaker, winner of the F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition,founder of his own eponymous atelier, was among those present. He and Laidetmet there, became friends, and eventually founded SpaceOne together. Five yearslater, their connection with Baltic’s founders has produced a watch.

THE COMPLICATION — READING TIME DIFFERENTLY

The Seconde Majeuredisplays time through a system that abandons traditional hands almost entirely.At twelve o’clock sits the hour display, a star wheel that completes a fullrotation every twelve hours, with individual numerals jumping crisply at thetop of each hour rather than rotating gradually. The jump is mechanical, drivenby a jumper spring that builds tension throughout the cycle and releases it ina single precise instant.

In the lower section ofthe dial, a sapphire disc carries the minute markings, printed on the discitself, rotating continuously. A black arc highlights the currently relevanttwenty-minute window, giving the eye an immediate reference point. Above this,sweeping across the full width of the lower dial, is the large central secondshand, the Seconde Majeure that gives the watch its name.

The crown sits at twelveo’clock, a deliberate compositional choice that removes it from the three o’clockposition where it conventionally lives and allows the case flanks to remaincompletely clean.

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THE CHARBONNÉ QUESTION: WHICH DIAL TO CHOOSE

The Seconde Majeure isoffered in two versions. The brushed variant presents a clean, uniform surfacetreatment on the maillechort, German silver, base plate beneath the sapphirediscs. It is technical, precise, and easy on the eye. The contrast between thematte brushed plate and the polished sapphire above it is genuinely beautiful.

The Charbonné variant issomething else. Applied entirely by hand in Théo Auffret’s atelier overapproximately three hours per dial, the Charbonné finish produces a cloudy,organic texture across the base plate; subtly different on every single piece.No two Charbonné Seconde Majeure watches will look identical.

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“The Charbonné adds a beautiful aesthetic touch, but italso makes the dial busier. The brushed version is easier on the eye. When thecomplication itself is already this visually demanding, restraint in the finishis not a compromise. It is the right call.”

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My preference is thebrushed version. The jumping hour mechanism, the sapphire discs, the orbitingseconds hand, the dial is already asking a great deal of the eye. A cleanerbase plate gives the complication the space it deserves to breathe.

THE PRE-ORDER MODEL AND WHY YOU NEED TO ACT NOW

The Seconde Majeure isnot available in a boutique. It cannot be found on a grey market dealer’sshelf. It exists in a six-day pre-order window: May 12th to May 17th, 2026;after which production is limited to exactly the number of orders placed. Whenthe window closes, it is gone.

This model, familiar tofollowers of Kurono Tokyo, of MB&F’s limited editions, of the broaderindependent watchmaking world, is still largely unknown to Gulf collectors. Notbecause the Gulf cannot access these watches. The pre-order is online, open toanyone in the world. The issue is awareness. The Gulf watch conversation isstill dominated by boutique brands, secondary market Rolexes, and the releasesthat get covered in mainstream regional media.

House of Lux existsprecisely to close that gap. The Seconde Majeure pre-order opens in four days.If this watch appeals to you — and on the evidence of what Auffret, Laidet, andthe Baltic team have built, it should — the window is now.

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THE VERDICT

The Baltic × SpaceOneSeconde Majeure is one of the most considered releases of 2026. It is not themost expensive watch of the year. It is not the most technically complex. Itwill not be worn by anyone on the Forbes list or displayed in a Dubai Mallboutique window.

But it is the product ofgenuine creative intelligence: two distinct watchmaking philosophies inproductive tension, a complication module built by one of the most talentedyoung watchmakers in France, and a dial that rewards the attention you give it.At €2,500 for the brushed version, it represents value that the Swissestablishment, at this level of finishing and conceptual ambition, simplycannot match.

The pre-order opens May12th. Six days. Then it is gone. You have been told.

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BALTIC × SPACEONE SECONDE MAJEURE — SPECIFICATIONS

Reference:  Baltic × SpaceOne SecondeMajeure, brushed dial

Case:  38.5mm, 904L stainless steel,12.3mm thick, 47.5mm lug-to-lug

Movement:  Soprod P024 automatic, jumpinghour module by Théo Auffret

Dial:  Maillechort base plate, brushed orCharbonné hand-finish

Strap:  Beige Alcantara by Delugs,curved spring bars, steel pin buckle

Water resistance: 50metres

Price:  €2,500 (brushed) / €3,500(Charbonné) — excluding taxes

HOL VERDICT

Dial concept:  ★★★★★  —  Oneof the most original time displays at this price point

Finishing:  ★★★★☆  — Charbonné is extraordinary craft. Brushed is the better choice

Value:  ★★★★★  — €2,500 for an Auffret-built complication is genuinely remarkable

Wearability:  ★★★★☆  — 38.5mm / 12.3mm. Dressier than sporty. Suits the collector

Gulf relevance: ★★★★★  —  Zeroboutique presence. This is exactly what this column is for

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