Every Romain Gauthier timepiece is unique thanks to their hand-finishing.
The movement of each watch is made in-house from A to Z including the manufacture of the smallest pinion to the assembly and adjustment of the entire movement, including the beveling and decoration of the bridges, main plates and enameling of the dials.
That has made the business and its eponymous owner among the most respected of a new breed of independent watchmakers that are combining centuries-old horological skills, a modern artist’s eye and a recently-found commercial confidence as demand and prices have risen among educated collectors.
Romain Gauthier combined all those strengths into the launch of the first C by Romain Gauthier in 2021 launched into the red hot steel-on-steel sports luxury category.
Now collectors have the option of an even sportier C by Romain Gauthier in the form of a titanium version with an integrated bracelet in the same lightweight metal.
Titanium is typically a less mirror-finished metal compared to steel, but Romain Gauthier has bought a shine to inter-connecting links that contrast with the rest of the bracelet.
It integrates elegantly into a 41mm watch head that has the same polished and brushed contrasting finishes.
The C is powered by a hand-wound in-house movement, whose hand-finishing on dramatic parallel bridges can be seen via a broad exhibition case back.
It has 60 hours of power reserve.
There are options with a grey or salmon dial, both CHF 42,000, with central hours and minute hands and a small seconds subdial slightly offset to the left of 6 o’clock on the dial.
The placement of the small seconds dial is not the only design element that is slightly off-centre.
Baton hour markers are different lengths, the minute track doesn’t quite follow the perimeter of the circular dial, and there are blue lines radiating from the sub dial that stretch to different distances.
“Rather than a series of enclosed circles, as we often see in watchmaking, I wanted an open, airy dial on which full or part orthogonal lines form vanishing points with the axes of the hands, reinforcing the notion of continuity,” Mr Gauthier explains.
