It is all about high-end appeal, meticulous craftsmanship and textured dials with plenty of organic depth in the world of fine horology.
Swiss independent watchmakers Renaud Tixier and the legendary house of Rado have both chosen to honour modern-day design icons of their choice with their new releases.
Not just any other Monday
Renaud Tixier, independent Swiss watchmaking brand founded by Dominique Renaud and Julien Tixier in 2024, has always stated that it was keen to re-engineer the core fundamental principles of mechanical watchmaking.
The brand’s Monday Collection − its debut three-hand watch launched in 2024 − addresses the efficiency loss common in traditional automatic watch micro-rotors.
The thing is, micro-rotors of the past often fail to harvest enough energy from subtle wrist movements like typing.
As such, Renaud Tixier solved this by inventing and patenting the Dancer kinetic engine – a shock-absorbing, spring-loaded mechanism inside the rotor that maximises energy generation from the wearer’s most subtle of joint movements.
Following the initial Blue debut model representing the flower, now comes Monday Organica Black and Bordeaux, as the brand from Nyon − situated just north of Geneva in Switzerland − completes a poetic, nature-inspired horological trilogy in style.
The new Black edition symbolises hidden roots, while the Bordeaux edition − housed in 5N rose gold − evokes a slowly ripened fruit.
Limited to just seven pieces each, they fuse Olivier Vaucher’s hand-engraved grand feu enamel artistry with Renaud’s clever micro-rotor mechanics perfectly.
And to house the watch’s Dancer kinetic engine, the brand has developed the Calibre RVI2023 – a 274-component movement measuring 36.8mm across and 6.69mm thick.
It runs at 2.5Hz with a palladium balance wheel, delivers 60 hours of power reserve and uses a platinum micro-rotor and flywheel.
Modernist architectural icon
Created in partnership with Les Couleurs Suisse, Rado has honoured the memory of legendary modernist architect Le Corbusier with its new Rado True Round x Les Couleurs Le Corbusier Special Edition collection.
The Swiss-French architect, designer and urban planner was a pioneer of modern mid-20th century architecture, and believed homes were “machines for living in.”
As such, he has been known for creating functional design with reinforced concrete and bold geometric forms like the Unité d’Habitation: A massive concrete housing block in Marseille, France, built like a vertically-ascending village.
Using his famous Architectural Polychromy colour palette − containing 63 shades − that was designed to alter spatial perception when combined (to which Les Couleurs Suisse is the worldwide licensor), each of the three new watch models in this collection uses specific matte high-tech ceramic colours and laser-engraved dial textures.
The first watch in this collection, with its distinctive Ivory White high-tech ceramic monobloc case and bracelet, is inspired by Le Corbusier’s brutally modernist La Cité Radieuse.
The watch’s dial is inspired by the board-formed concrete of the Marseille apartment building, and has hands in contrasting tones.
Meanwhile, the watch representing the Carpenter Centre for the Visual Arts at Harvard University references his sole US building in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
This has a laser-engraved dial echoing the building’s molded concrete and multi-coloured hands.
Finally, the watch inspired by the Palace of Assembly in Chandigarh, India, is formed in matt Noir d’Ivoire (Ivory Black) ceramic, celebrating the monumental Indian architectural project by the architect.
The watch has a textured dial and vibrant contrasting hands.
Powered by the automatic Rado calibre R763 with an 80-hour power reserve and an anti-magnetic Nivachron hairspring, all three watches also feature a sapphire crystal caseback displaying the Le Corbusier logo, surrounded by 63 digitally printed colour strips representing Le Corbusier’s full colour spectrum.
