Romain Jerome goes interstellar one more time. The Swiss watchmaker has produced another space-themed timepiece, the Skylab 48 Speed Metal Skull, which is also the brand’s first skeleton movement.

It seems Swiss watchmaker Romain Jerome has a thing for space. It all began with the Romain Jerome Moon Dust DNA collection. After the Mood Dust we saw another space-themed series by the brand, the Moon Invader collection. Since then, it’s safe to say that the space motif has dominated the brand’s watches.

Here we have its latest release along those lines, the Skylab 48 Speed Metal Skull, yet another example of Romain Jerome’s space affair. In this variant, we have skulls making their from fashion runways into space, with the independent Swiss watchmaker adding a more unconventional touch to its technical skeleton timepiece.

While the space theme is something familiar, the Skylab collection represents something new, as this is Romain Jerome’s first skeleton movement. Characterized by straight vertical and horizontal bridges, each timepiece features a skeletonized skull-shaped applique, held by two functional screws to allow maximum transparency of the movement. The arrangement allows us to see the barrel at 12 o’clock, the balance wheel at 6 o’clock and the train at 9 o’clock.

The movement is composed of three layers, formed by the plate, the bridges and the skull applique in anodized aluminum. It is housed in a bi-colour case full of contrast, with its steel lugs, steel polished paws and the satin-finished black-PVD coated steel bezel.

The collection consists of 12 different colours, which are exceptionally resistant to corrosion thanks to the special anodization process used to color the aluminum.

But you have to move at the speed of light to get your hands on one of these. Each variant is limited to only a 9 piece release, and retails for about CHF 19’000.

Fast facts:

• Caliber RJ004-M - Mechanical movement
• Black chrome skeleton movement
• Frequency 28,800 vph
• Jewelling 21 jewels
• Power reserve 48 hours
• Water resistance 3 atm (30 meters)
• Case Ø 48mm, black PVD-coated steel containing fragments of Apollo 11
• Case back Sapphire crystal
• Bezel Black PVD-coated satin-finished steel
• Skeletonised RJ skull applique in aluminium held by two screws
• Hands Rhodiumed and satin-brushed hour and minute hands with Superluminova C1 “blue emission”
• Crown Steel screw-lock crown
• Strap Black alligator with steel folding clasp