Baltic × SpaceOne

People are tied together, not brands — and there is seemingly no reason for Baltic and SpaceOne to collaborate. Two philosophies at odds: Baltic makes vintage-inspired watches playing with traditional codes; SpaceOne makes spaceship-looking watches with a deconstructed approach to time. The foundation was laid in 2021 at Baltic's Paris headquarters, where French watchmakers gathered to share a moment; Théo Auffret and SpaceOne founder Guillaume Laidet met that day, and five years later their friendship produced the Seconde Majeure. Four people stand behind it: Etienne Malec (Baltic founder, watch enthusiast and photographer); Jas Rewkiewicz (Baltic creative director, custodian of the brand's identity); Guillaume Laidet (serial watch entrepreneur, catalyst for disruptive concepts); and Théo Auffret, the independent watchmaker and constructor whose module gives the collaboration its technical soul.

The Seconde Majeure takes a kinematic approach to time: jumping hours at 12 o'clock and trailing minutes at 6 o'clock, both on rotating sapphire discs guided by an arrow crosshair, while a large central seconds hand glides above the composition — giving the watch its name. Auffret's jumping-hour module, visible through the transparent dial, comprises three components: a Central Control Wheel completing a full rotation every 60 minutes, a 12-tooth Star Wheel, and a Jumper Spring. Rather than a conventional dial, the module's mainplate itself — cut from a single piece of maillechort, or German silver — serves as the decorative canvas, offered in two finishes: a technical, uniform brushed treatment, or Auffret's own signature charbonné, an antique coal-finishing technique that relies on a random scratched pattern, executed entirely by hand at his Paris atelier over as much as three hours, making every watch in that finish genuinely unique. The 38.5mm, 904L stainless steel case (12.3mm thick, 47.5mm lug-to-lug) was designed specifically for this project rather than adapted from either brand's existing catalogue, its polished concave bezel and curved spring bars paired with a beige Alcantara strap by Delugs; the automatic Soprod P024 beneath delivers a 42-hour reserve, and the polished steel caseback is engraved with the atelier's Paris address and each watch's individual production number in flowing script.

Offered only during a six-day pre-order window (12–17 May 2026) at €2,500 for the brushed finish or €3,500 for charbonné, with delivery from November 2026, the Seconde Majeure drew immediate, extensive coverage from Hodinkee, Fratello, Monochrome, WatchTime, GQ, SJX, and A Blog to Watch — reviewers repeatedly reaching for comparisons to MB&F and Ressence to describe its ambition at a fraction of those brands' prices, even as some questioned whether an off-the-shelf Soprod base movement justified the premium over Baltic's usual pricing. Whatever the verdict on value, the collaboration proved something rarer: that two philosophically opposed independent houses, brought together by nothing more than a shared afternoon in Paris, could produce a genuinely original piece of horology neither would have built alone.