SpaceOne Is Making The Sort Of Watches Sci Fi Films Promised Us
A few days ago we looked at the frankly brilliant Baltic x SpaceOne Seconde Majeure, a watch that somehow managed to blend vintage elegance with futuristic chaos in a way that absolutely should not have worked. Yet here we are, still thinking about it.
But the deeper you go into SpaceOne, the clearer it becomes that the Seconde Majeure was not some one off creative accident. This is simply what SpaceOne does.
Founded by Guillaume Laidet and independent watchmaker Théo Auffret, the Paris based brand has built its entire identity around neo futuristic horology. Which sounds slightly ridiculous until you actually see the watches. Then suddenly phrases like “space age mechanical sculpture” start feeling oddly appropriate.
Because SpaceOne is not interested in making another heritage inspired sports watch with faux patina and a story about racing drivers from 1964. It wants to make watches that look like they have arrived from fifty years in the future.
Credit - Space One
The Jumping Hour Looks Like An Alien Dashboard
The Jumping Hour is probably the purest expression of the SpaceOne philosophy.
Traditional hands are thrown out entirely in favour of a wandering digital style display housed inside an angular titanium case that looks suspiciously like part of a spaceship control panel. It is the sort of watch that makes normal watches suddenly seem a bit old fashioned.
And yet beneath all the futuristic styling sits proper mechanical watchmaking.
The jumping hour complication, developed with Théo Auffret, delivers a genuinely theatrical way of reading the time. Hours snap instantly into place while the minutes glide across the dial in a beautifully strange display that feels part retro future concept, part indie haute horology.
Most brands would never dare make something this unconventional under five figures.
SpaceOne just casually did it anyway.
Price - £2300
Credit - Space One
The Tellurium Is Completely Absurd And Completely Wonderful
Then things get properly astronomical.
The Tellurium might genuinely be one of the most entertaining watches currently being made by any microbrand. Rather than simply showing the time, it visualises the Earth, Moon and Sun in real time across the dial using a rotating orbital display system.
Which is either wildly unnecessary or deeply brilliant depending on your personality. Probably both.
The mechanics behind it are seriously impressive too. Built around a Soprod movement with a bespoke complication module designed by Auffret, the Tellurium tracks celestial movement with a 365 tooth ring corresponding to Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The Moon rotates too, creating a constantly shifting miniature solar system on your wrist. And somehow, despite sounding like a science museum exhibit, it still wears like an actual watch.
Price - £3200
Credit - Space One
The WorldTimer Feels Like Blade Runner On A Strap
Rounding out the core collection is the WorldTimer, which takes the already futuristic SpaceOne design language and somehow turns it up another notch.
Again housed in titanium, the WorldTimer ditches traditional layouts entirely in favour of a satellite inspired rotating display system that feels more spacecraft instrumentation than wristwatch. Multiple time zones are displayed through moving discs and apertures that somehow remain surprisingly readable despite looking like they were designed by NASA after a particularly creative lunch break.
The impressive part is that none of these watches feel gimmicky.
That is the difficult balance SpaceOne gets right.
Yes, the watches are dramatic. Yes, they look wildly different from almost everything else on the market. But underneath the spectacle there is genuine mechanical seriousness and thoughtful engineering.
Price - £3200
Why SpaceOne Matters
Independent watchmaking can sometimes disappear slightly too far up its own exhaust pipe.
Either everything becomes painfully conservative or so aggressively avant garde that wearing the watch feels like a dare. SpaceOne somehow sits perfectly in the middle.
These watches are futuristic without becoming unwearable. Experimental without losing sight of actual usability. Most importantly, they feel exciting in a way much of modern watchmaking simply does not anymore. And perhaps that is why the Baltic collaboration worked so beautifully.
Baltic brought restraint and classicism. SpaceOne brought chaos and imagination. Together they created one of the most interesting releases of the year. But the more you explore SpaceOne itself, the more you realise the brand was already quietly building one of the most distinctive identities in modern independent watchmaking.
Winding Things Up
Most watch brands spend their time looking backwards. SpaceOne is one of the few genuinely trying to imagine what mechanical watchmaking could look like tomorrow. Whether it is the wonderfully strange Jumping Hour, the astronomical madness of the Tellurium or the sci fi theatre of the WorldTimer, every SpaceOne watch feels ambitious, creative and refreshingly unlike anything else around.
And in a watch industry increasingly flooded with safe nostalgia, that feels pretty exciting.
