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Jerome DeWitt has a Napoleon complex. Not only does the Geneva watchmaker claim direct lineage to Bonaparte himself, but his watches rank among the most audaciously named timepieces in the business. The DeWitt Academia Quantieme Perpetuel GMT Nebula - one of only 99 pieces - lives up to the hype with an extraordinary case, dial, and complications.

Start with a 43mm case, add 18-karat white gold, black ceramic, and titanium. Adorn the construct with lustrous polished surfaces, textured matte counterparts, and robust geometries designed to evoke classical architecture. Now add aventurine (goldstone), silicium, six sub-dials, and eight separate hands. Bonaparte lineage or not, Jerome DeWitt delivers on an imperial scale.

The 43mm case of the DeWitt Academia Quantieme Perpetuel is designed to reflect the classical colonnade of neo-Roman architecture under Napoleon I. Each of the vertical columns is fashioned from brushed titanium or ceramic in alternating sequence.

The strong upward thrust of these "columns" joins the visually distinct 18-karat white gold case back and matching bezel like the pedestal and roof of a Roman temple. Atop the bezel, polished black ceramic inserts alternate with white gold.

DeWitt crafts this dial from a combination of ruthenium-coated metal, silicium, and aventurine. The lower portion of the dial is set within the vertical cotes de Geneve and houses the technical complications. A day, date, month, leap year cycle, and second time zone 24-hour dial track the conventional calendar and civil time. At center, a red reference time zone hand sits beneath the silver hour and minute hands; the red GMT hour hand can be hidden under its conventional counterpart when a second time zone is not required.

At the top of the dial, DeWitt grants its most romantic complication pride-of-place. The moon phase disc and its surrounding semi-circle of main dial are crafted from aventurine. The material, which is formed by mixing copper flakes into molten glass, provides a dazzling impression of the nocturnal heavens.

The lower portion of the moon phase dial is constructed of silicium, and a chemical deposition technique is employed to transfer a photo-realistic impression of NGC-1300, a galaxy within the Eridan Nebula. As the namesake of the watch, the imagery lives up to its billing with an electrifying iridescence that jumps from the dial with a three-dimensional appearance.

The spectacular dial of the DeWitt Academia Quantieme Perpetuel GMT Nebula covers a DeWitt Caliber DW7021 automatic. With two time zones, a perpetual calendar, a stunning moon phase, the extraordinary modular movement is a rare gem. DeWitt starts with a thin and precise ETA 2892-A2 ebauche, improves the finish, and adds an exquisite in-house complication module. The DeWitt modular engine is spectacular in every detail from the mirror-quality anglage flanking each horizontal bridge to the delicate detailing of the wheels.

See this imposing, and imaginative, and yes - imperial - DeWitt Academia Quantieme Perpetuel GMT Nebula in high-resolution images on www.thewatchbox.com

Video and content by Tim Mosso

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