The Unexpected Baltic × SpaceOne Seconde Majeure

Collaborations in the watch world are nothing new. Usually, we see a watch brand team up with some other company, often resulting in a fairly gimmicky co-branding exercise. That approach doesn’t typically float our boat, to put it mildly. Today, we have something a bit different. What happens when two seemingly incompatible watch companies join forces? Well, you get something like the Baltic × SpaceOne Seconde Majeure! And this, my fear Fratelli, floats my boat.

The Baltic × SpaceOne Seconde Majeure comes in two versions, separated by the dial texture. One is vertically brushed, while the other adds a hand-applied “charbonné” finish. The brushed model costs €2,500 excluding taxes, while the charbonné model retails for €3,500 before taxes. Production is limited to orders placed between May 12th and 17th, and deliveries will commence in November 2026.

A serendipitous encounter

Let’s have a closer look at how this creation came to be. The Baltic × SpaceOne Seconde Majeure blends two opposing watchmaking philosophies. Baltic stands for vintage-inspired, traditional designs, while SpaceOne represents futuristic, innovative watchmaking. You would be forgiven for thinking these two worlds were incompatible.

The more traditional Baltic style

This unexpected collab traces its roots to a get-together back in 2021. Baltic invited French watchmakers to experience its new headquarters in Paris. Watchmaker Théo Auffret and serial watch entrepreneur Guillaume Laidet (of Nivada Grenchen, Excelsior Park, and Vulcain) met there, became friends, and continued to found SpaceOne together.

The futuristic SpaceOne aesthetic

Simply put, there would be no SpaceOne without Baltic. Baltic’s founder Etienne Malec and creative director Jas Rewkiewicz now team up with the SpaceOne duo to celebrate this serendipitous encounter.

The Baltic × SpaceOne Seconde Majeure specs

Okay, on to the watch itself. The Baltic × SpaceOne Seconde Majeure features a 904L stainless steel 38.5mm case with a 12.3mm thickness and a 47.5mm length. The crown sits at 12, and a single-domed sapphire with an antireflective coating seals the topside. This new case blends vintage Baltic vibes with more avant-garde SpaceOne style and is made specifically for this project. The pair of brands rates its water resistance at 50 meters.

Inside ticks the Soprod caliber P024. This normally spartan automatic movement offers a 42-hour power reserve. In this case, however, Théo Auffret’s custom-built module makes it a bit more special than usual. Atop the dial sits a jump-hour mechanism, visible through the sapphire hour and minute discs. This deceptively simple mechanism shows a spring and a 12-toothed wheel, jumping once every hour.

The central pinion drives a large central seconds hand, hence the name Seconde Majeure. The minute markings sit printed on a sapphire disc. A black section cleverly highlights the currently relevant 20-minute window, with a pointer indicating the exact minute. Another sapphire disc features the jumping hours, with the current hour highlighted through another black section at 12.

A closer look at the Baltic × SpaceOne Seconde Majeure’s design

All of this mechanical and sapphire goodness hovers over a maillechort dial. Maillechort, an alternative to brass, is also known as German silver. It features a more silvery sheen than brass, clearly visible here. You can opt for a vertically brushed version or a manually applied “charbonné” finish. The latter takes three hours of manual finishing to yield a dynamic, organic texture. The Baltic × SpaceOne branding and a “Manufacturé à Paris” signature subtly curve around the dial’s perimeter.

The choice of material is just one of several strokes of brilliance that unite two distant design languages. The dial layout appears futuristic, clearly leaning towards SpaceOne. Meanwhile, the luxurious, warm sheen of the maillechort anchors it in Baltic’s more romantic aesthetic.

I enjoyed a chance to try the Baltic × SpaceOne Seconde Majeure, and I came away deeply impressed. It isn’t just a highly considerate marriage of two worlds; it is also quite simply beautiful in its own right. The proportions felt perfect, slightly beefier than your typical Baltic yet subtle enough on my 18cm (7″) wrist. The dial shimmers and captures the eye with its complexity while still effortlessly revealing the time.

Closing thoughts

The Baltic × SpaceOne Seconde Majeure sits firmly within SpaceOne’s price segment, which is quite a bit higher than what you might expect from Baltic. Here’s the thing: the watch more than justifies it. It feels so refined and considered, and it brings forward such a unique approach that I wouldn’t think twice about the financial outlay. Doing cool stuff like this doesn’t come cheap, and I hope that Baltic and SpaceOne do well with it.

This collision of two worlds works so well, in fact, that I would almost hope to see them do this again. A yearly Baltic × SpaceOne release would certainly land in fertile soil with me. These two brands seemingly bring out the best in each other. The Seconde Majeure combines Baltic’s charm with SpaceOne’s innovation. The result could have been fragmented or contrived in so many ways, but it isn’t. In fact, this might just be my favorite Baltic and my favorite SpaceOne so far.

Vertically brushed dial

Charbonné dial

What do you think of the new Baltic × SpaceOne Seconde Majeure? Let us know in the comments section below!