Well, you don’t want the lesser dome, do you? Before we get to that, let’s get into the company a little bit – because, if you’re like me, you probably haven’t heard of them before. D&S is located in Switzerland, and have been in business since 1995. When they started out, they were recasing vintage movements into age-appropriate designs; these days, they’re coming up with their own designs – which brings us to their most recent model, the Grand Dome.
First thing you want to know with a brand you’ve not heard about is the movement in use – and here, we’ve got an automatic in the form of a Valjoux 7751, which features hand engraving and various decorative elements (Côtes de Genève, blued screws, etc).
That, of course, will drive the functionality that you get. Here, you’ve got standard timekeeping, plus day/date and moonphase displays, as well as a chronograph.
Once the mechanicals are out of the way, we can turn our attention to the styling. Here, you’ve got a tonneau sort of a case, measuring in at 37mm wide by 52mm tall, which has a set of four circles running down the middle of the face. This is something I can’t recall seeing done before, and frankly, I rather like it.
One thing I’m not so keen on is the large logo across the top of the dial, under the double-domed sapphire crystal. I don’t mind a nice bit of branding on a watch; here, it just seems overly prominent. In some of the other color schemes (there are about 10 varieties) it’s not as prominent, but it’s still right there up top. Which for a watch that starts at $11,300 (and runs up to $75,780), that’s a bit surprising. Then again, at those prices, you and I aren’t likely to see one any time soon.
If you’d like to read up some more on this piece, as well as some hands-on impressions, you can check out what Ariel had to say.
