Pequignet Rue Royale watches

The Pequignet Rue Royale is a 42 mm dress watch built around the Calibre Royal, the automatic movement Pequignet designs and assembles in Morteau, in the French Jura close to Switzerland's watchmaking heartland. Pequignet was founded in 1973, and the Calibre Royal arrived in 2011; the brand says mechanical movements were no longer being made in France before it.

The movement beats at 3 Hz (21,600 vibrations per hour), winds in both directions through its rotor and runs from a single large barrel, with the power reserve shown at 8 o'clock. Pequignet says its development produced eight international patents. On the Moonphase and the GMT, the day and a large date sit in two apertures under 12 o'clock, both jumping instantly at midnight, with small seconds at 4. The steel Moonphase has a polished case with sapphire crystals front and back, and its display back is held by six screws.

What separates the versions is mostly what sits on the lower half of the dial. The Moonphase has a large moon phase and comes in steel, yellow gold or red gold, with silver, black and silver guilloché dials; the guilloché versions (9010437CN and 9010437CG) carry a honeycomb pattern over most of the dial. The 9010433CN and 9010433CG are the same silver-dial steel Moonphase on black and brown alligator. The GMT is steel: it shows a second time zone on a 24-hour scale combined with the small seconds at 4 o'clock, set with a pusher built into the crown, and has a day/night indicator at 6 o'clock, where other Pequignet models put a moon phase. Its dials include blue, grey and silver, and the 9010973COB is the blue version on a fabric strap. The Day Date and the plain Rue Royale are also 42 mm steel watches.