2012/08/23 - RJ - Romain Jerome Space Invaders Take Over Colette in PARIS

 

After a first raid last year, the SPACE INVADERS® have once again landed our daily watchmaking lives. In cooperation with TAITO Corporation, RJ-Romain Jerome serves as a willing accomplice in this new invasion. First target : colette, in Paris. On that occasion, the pixelated figures have put on the emblematic blue color of the store for a limited edition of eight pieces, only available in the trendy boutique.

An authentic homage to late 20th century pop culture, the SPACE INVADERS watches are true generational icons. Since their first landing on our planet in 1978, the SPACE INVADERS have colonised our world to the point of imprinting their subliminal image on the collective unconscious of millions of human beings for whom age has proved the only cure for their juvenile game dependency.

Manuel Emch, CEO of RJ-Romain Jerome, is himself a former game addict from the generation that first went wild about SPACE INVADERS, the game that has become a legend for all those who grew up in the 1980s : it was the first electronic game, the first "Killer Application" on a fixed console (arcade cabinet). The SPACE INVADERS craze sparked a shortage of 100-yen coins when the game was first launched in Japan. SPACE INVADERS and its pixel creatures were the first ever iconic form of entertainment : thousands of hours of TV footage and hundreds of cultural exhibitions have been devoted to this generational legend.

Having inherited the highly distinctive case of the Moon Invader collection (a round shape inside a cambered 46 mm square), the SPACE INVADERS watches have kept the same steel coalesced with fragments of Apollo 11. The four functional ball-and-socket joints on the corners of the case are shaped like the legs of the lunar landing modules of the American lunar missions. These extremely sophisticated components mounted on axles anchored in the case hold the lugs of the rubber straps and enable the watch to adjust to all kinds of wrist sizes.

Embodying another tangible token of the space age symbolised by the SPACE INVADERS collection, a dedicated plate made of Moon SilverRJ – a silver alloy with an extremely low oxidation rate incorporating moon rocks – appears on the stellar-patterned back of the watch and reproduces the lunar surface.

The dial is very complex and consists of three layers : the first two are beadblasted and the "straight graining" gives a pixelated aspect to the third layer. Measuring around 3.5 mm each, the SPACE INVADERS are meticulously machined one by one, applied by hand and lacquered in various colours. These pixel invaders are a playful nod that transforms watches into inspired "talking pieces" capable of creating a distinct sense of affinity with those who wear them, and who revel in the chance to thumb their noses at classic watchmaking conventions.

The SPACE INVADERS are available in four other colours (red, green, purple and yellow) and have started their incursion in all RJ-Romain Jerome points of sale worldwide. Limited editions

 

 

 

Technical Specifications

SPACE INVADERS©1
Limited edition 8 pieces per colour

Caliber :

• RJ001-A
• Mechanical self-winding movement
  

Frequency : 28,800 vph
Jewelling :23 jewels
Power reserve : 42 hours
Water resistance : 30 meters
Functions : Central hours and minutes

Case :

• Ø46mm
• Black PVD-coated steel
• Lugs fitted with safety screws and integrated ball-and-socket joints for optimal wrist adjustment
• Case with integrated back, including elements of Apollo 11
• Grainy-textured stellar-patterned back with medallion in Moon SilverRJ representing the Moon
• RJ safety screw on the case-back, exclusively accessible to watchmakers Screw-lock crown
  

Dial

• Black 3D dial with 3 beadblasted & satin-brushed levels
• Pixelated "Space Invaders®" lacquered in various colours according to the version :
  • blue (RJ.M.AU.IN.006.03)
  • red (RJ.M.AU.IN.006.06)
  • green (RJ.M.AU.IN.006.04)
  • purple (RJ.M.AU.IN.006.07)
  • yellow (RJ.M.AU.IN.006.05)
    

Hands : Oxidised black, polished, with C1 superluminova

Strap

• Black rubber
• Grainy-textured interior of stellar-patterned strap
  

Buckle : Black PVD-coated steel

 

 

 

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