Hands-On The Baltic x SpaceOne Seconde Majeure

Photos by Jack Shepherdson and Georgia Griffiths

Everything in Paris is a mix, especially the architecture - a glorious melting pot of medieval, turn-of-the-century ironmongery and a hodgepodge of modernism - and the way these disparate styles clash and bleed into each other makes it a city like nowhere else. The recently reopened Bourse de Commerce is the perfect example. A 16th-century hall, its domed roof lined with frescoes, its circular centre now houses an exhibition space, a building inside a building, designed by Japanese contemporary architect Tadao Ando.

That’s the joy of Paris’ dot-painting landscape: each new building borrows from what came before in this cross-generational patchwork quilt. It’s no surprise this collaborative nature makes its way into everything in the city. Which brings me to the Parisian-born Baltic x SpaceOne Seconde Majeure, which broke cover in May this year, and which I recently had the chance to experience in person.

It’s a 38mm steel jump-hour watch that rides the line between concept watch and entry-level haute horlogerie, placing the jump-hour complication on display, sandwiched between the dial plate and two transparent sapphire jump-hour discs above the dial plate. It’s the first collaboration watch between these two brands, bringing together many minds (and many styles) into one watch.

I’ll introduce you to the characters at play. Etienne Malec, Baltic’s founder with a penchant for classic cars and vintage watches, is the force behind the vintage-inspired flair of the brand. Théo Auffret and Guillaume Laidet are the duo behind the neo-futurist lunatic-brand (complementary) SpaceOne. Théo, of course, makes his own independent watches too, and he’s brought his watchmaking and complications know-how (which have seen him garner a handful of GPHG nominations) to the jump-hour module and the signature finishing on the Seconde Majeure.

When the Seconde Majeure’s five-day pre-order window opened in May, Baltic was inundated with orders beyond their expectations. It proved itself as one of the hottest affordable watches this year, with the first deliveries scheduled for November. Baltic auctioned off their workshop prototype of the watch at Marteau & Co last month as well, with a portion of the sale going to charity. It crossed the block at CHF 54,000 including premium - that’s only a grand less than the piece-unique Baltic Quantième Perpétual achieved at OnlyWatch in 2024.

All this to say that in the eyes of enthusiasts prepared to put their money where their mouth is, Baltic and SpaceOne appear to be onto a winner, and having now seen the Seconde Majeure in person, I can confidently say that this is true. On a recent visit to Paris, I swung past Baltic’s new digs to check out both examples of the Baltic x SpaceOne Seconde Majeure in person. Saying “there’s no watch quite like this” feels like a well-trodden cliché in the watch world, but there really isn’t any reference point for the Seconde Majeure. These brands haven’t crossed paths like this before, and there aren’t many jump-hours with architecture like this (especially at this price point).

The watch’s proportions are exceptionally well-balanced. In its simplest form, the Seconde Majeure is a circle (the case) with two smaller overlapping circles inside it (the minute and hour discs) centred on the vertical axis. The balance achieved with these dials is bang on, leaving the right amount of breathing room around the timekeeping subdials, which is where Théo Auffret’s charbonné finishing gets the chance to shine.

I initially harboured some slight reservations that the 38.5mm case and 12.5mm thickness would size the Seconde Majeure to be less of a daily watch and more a concept piece to show off, but I needn’t have worried. Any smaller and it would lose its glanceable legibility; it remains nicely proportioned and doesn’t feel ungainly on my wrist.

Powering the Seconde Majeure is a Soprod P024 movement, out of sight beneath the dial plate. The mechanism on show between the dial plate and sapphire time discs is Auffret’s custom-developed jump-hour module. Auffret’s engineering takes centre stage in the wearing experience, especially because you can watch it working. At no point whilst wearing it was I thinking about the base movement, which shows how much Auffret’s module elevates the package.

There is also a strong depth and three-dimensionality to the wearing experience. There are small details to enjoy, like the different heights of the grooves cut into the dial plate that the module and discs are set inside, almost like different height steps leading down into a pool. I especially appreciated how the numeral printing on the transparent discs casts shadows onto the dial plate beneath it. The quirky typeface with dots within the zeros especially deserves praise - fonts are a detail Baltic continually nails whilst other brands continually overlook it.

There’s also the tactile and audible aspect to enjoy with the Seconde Majeure, because you can certainly hear and feel that jump-hour module when it clicks over. It’s satisfying to watch it jump through the sapphire discs, making a weighty and audible click. Unlike many other jump-hour watches, the hour jump isn’t instantaneous. Instead, the top disc creeps over the course of a few minutes leading up to 60, before making the remaining change with the instant click.

Baltic tell me this was an intentional choice: they could either have the hour jump instantaneously, or allow it to jump both forwards and backwards. I think choosing the latter was the right choice to avoid unintentional damage to the movement by accidentally setting it backwards, a common problem with jump-hours - plus it means quicker time-setting when you need to wind back the time just an hour at daylight saving time or when hopping across a time zone.

The Seconde Majeures I spent my time with are both 0000s, the prototypes you saw pictured at the watch’s debut. The production Seconde Majeure is going to have a few small improvements that culminate in some big refinements. For example, the prototype’s crown has a ‘ghost’ first position. This is where a non-existent date would be adjusted, with the second crown position adjusting the time. The production piece will do away with this and feature just one crown position to set the time. The production pieces will also feature the numbers ‘00’ in place of the current ‘60’ on the minute disc. This is a sensible change, given the minutes reset after 59 minutes at the start of a new hour.

Lastly, the spring bar holes will be slightly closer to the case so the strap sits tighter to the case. In my opinion, that’s the most important change as the strap gap is particularly noticeable, especially at the 6 o’clock lug. Baltic assures me that the crown at 12 o’clock will still be easy to grip and manipulate in this smaller gap, but this little change will help the strap hug the wrist a little tighter and look less spidery. You can actually see these cosmetic changes in action on the Baltic x SpaceOne website, which shows this updated production model.

The Seconde Majeure was released in two finishing options, either brushed or with Théo Auffret’s signature charbonnée finish. Prices started at €2,500, with a 40% jump in price to get the charbonnée. No one was forcing you to stump up the full €3,500 at checkout to get the charbonnée-finished Seconde Majeure, but I (and much of the online watch community) felt that to get the full Seconde Majeure experience, you need it with Auffret’s signature finish.

Whilst conceptually, the brushed model does miss out on one chapter of the story, having seen both variants in person now, I don’t think the brushed example is going to disappoint visually or leave buyers feeling like they missed out. The charbonnée finish is very handsome, achieved by rubbing a block of charcoal over the plate surface to bring out the finish - it reminds me of swirled clouds with golden hour light peeking through them - but the essence of what makes the Seconde Majeure a captivating watch isn’t entirely carried in the way the dial plate has been finished.

This watch's story doesn’t start and end with finishing. That brilliant jump-hour module and layout are the stars of the show and punch just as hard regardless of the dial plate’s finishing. If I were to be picking between the two, the decision would be made solely on preferred design, rather than a perception of ‘missing out’.

There’s some exciting Jules Verne flavour to the Seconde Majeure - and it’s not just because it’s French. It resembles something from Verne’s sci-fi worlds, where mechanical leviathans meet futurist tech. When I first heard that Baltic and SpaceOne were working together, I couldn’t visualise how their two schools of design would mesh, but it has resulted in a cohesive and unique watch that couldn’t exist without collaboration. Lucky buyers are in for a treat when they get their hands on them at the end of the year.

Brand: Baltic x SpaceOne
Model: Seconde Majeure
Diameter: 38.5mm
Lug-to-Lug: 47.5mm
Thickness: 12.5mm
Case Material: 904L stainless steel
Dial Colour: Sapphire, brushed or charbonné gold plate finish
Indexes: Brushed or charbonnée finish on rose-colored maillechort plate, with sapphire discs
Lume: None
Water Resistance: 50m
Strap/Bracelet: Alcantara® strap by Delugs, 20mm lug width

Calibre: Soprod P024 with jumping hour complication module by Théo Auffret
Functions: Jumping hours, minutes
Diameter: 26mm
Thickness: 4.6mm
Power Reserve: 42 hours
Winding: Automatic
Frequency: 4 Hz

Price: €2,500 (Brushed); €3,500 (Charbonné)
Availability: Was available for pre-order from May 12th to May 17th, 2026
Limited Edition: Individually numbered, limited by the number of orders placed during these six days

For more, click here.