The special Valentine’s Day timepiece features the rare gemstone astorite, enhancing its aura of elegance and femininity.

Ladies’ watches are generally shortchanged by brands, consumers and admittedly sometimes even by us in the press. There is a lot of innovation and craftsmanship involved in ladies’ timepieces and simply because they don’t make up the lion’s share of the market segment they might not always get the notoriety that they deserve.

But this time of year it’s different. That’s right, it’s Valentine’s season and that’s usually the brands make a hard push for the ladies market. And the press usually responds in kind.

So here we have the latest from Swiss watchmaker Jaquet Droz, the Petite Heure Minute Astorite. The watch immediately catches the eye with its unique design, featuring off-center hours and the unique positioned minutes subdial at 12 o’clock.

Speaking of that high level of craftsmanship, this watch does not disappoint mechanically. Underneath the beautiful dial we have a self-winding movement which boasts a power reserve of 68 hours. The in-house Jaquet Droz 2653.P movement boasts a balance-spring and pallet-fork horns in silicon, a double barrel, and a 18-carat red gold oscillating weight. Its mechanically beauty is there for all to see through the display case back.

The watch also excels aesthetically, in part because Jaquet Droz is known for its great tradition of embellished dials. The strong tradition continues here with astorite – a rare gem from the United States. The stone is named after John Astor and comes from the Colorado mine that belonged to this entrepreneur who actually perished on the Titanic.

The delicate look is helped by the pink of the astorite with a white mother-of-pearl center, which reflects the richness of the 35mm 18k red gold case. On top of that, the dial is illuminated with diamonds set in the bezel and lugs; 232 of them to be exact, totaling 1.23 carats.

The very feminine watch is limited to only 28 pieces – presumably for the number of days in February. But the real number that matters in February is 14. Mark it in your calendars.