Hands-On: The Watches Of David Candaux
The last time we covered watchmaker and mechanical engineer David Candaux, back in 2019, it was just two years after he took a leap of faith and stepped out on his own in Le Soliat, right off of the watchmaking hub of Neuchâtel to found his own eponymous brand. Up until that time, Candaux built a career developing some of the craziest movements out there, with 36 patents under his name.
A few weeks ago, Candaux stopped by to show me some of the current lineup, and the brand’s identity has largely remained steadfast. If you’re curious to read more about the story of the brand, Nick Manousos does an excellent job interviewing David in his 2019 article, which I highly recommend you read here.
If you’re here to look at some fun watches up close, you’re in the right place. Keep scrolling!
DC1
The DC1, in my humble opinion, is the star of the show in David Candaux’s three-model lineup. While all of Candaux’s watches are designed by him from the ground up, featuring 30-degree inclined tourbillons, a vertical push-button operated “Magic Crown,” and an inclined movement, the aesthetics of the DC1 speak to me the most. It truly feels like a watch that balances a modern design with homages to classical watchmaking without necessarily going overboard. As opposed to his other designs, the DC1 uses more traditional lugs, and the slightly slanted dial is hand-grained 18k solid yellow-gold. It is very attractive.
The 30-degree incline on the tourbillon.
Purely personal preference, but I love me a big ol’ sweeping center seconds hand. While some would argue that it may detract away from the movement of the tourbillon at nine o’clock, the large heat-blued seconds hand does a phenomenal job in giving the watch a sort of theatrical presence on the wrist. To the right of the tourbillon opening, a small dial made of opal serves to tell the time.
At the top of the dial, you’ll see a recessed power reserve gauge as well as an applique of “The Bear,” David’s nickname. “Handcrafted” is subtly incorporated into the yellow-gold dial portion, but I’ve always thought that phrases like that should be on the back or omitted completely, as it’s unnecessary when dealing with a brand that makes it a core tenet of every watch. David Candaux’s name is on the front rehaut near six o’clock, along with the brand’s slogan, “Le Coeur & L’Esprit” (“Hearts & Minds”).
The Magic Crown, in time setting mode.
The tourbillon cage is heat-blued titanium.
Of course, we have to talk about the “Magic Crown,” or as the brand calls it, the Couronne Magique winding system. Candaux tells me that it’s inspired by the mechanism on a retractable pen. When I push the crown in, it emerges from the case and reveals knurling around the side for setting and winding. Now, unlike a traditional crown, the winding and setting stops are inverted where pulling it out to the maximal position is what allows the watch to wind. In my experience, the mechanism was smooth and impressive, but I have to also admit that it was challenging to sometimes wind the watch without applying any sort of downward pressure, thus pushing the crown back into the setting mode. The nerd in me loves this system, the pragmatist in me wonders if a traditional crown would have still worked in this design.
The grade-5 titanium caliber.
The incline of the movement shows off the anglage and interior angles better.
You can see the incline of the movement through three separate steps.
Flipping the watch around reveals the Calibre 1740, which contains around 296 components and is finished to an incredible degree. Also to a degree are the movement bridges, going train, and wheels, which are inclined three degrees to highlight the anglage and show off some of the interior angles in a stronger light. The gear train bridges in grade-5 titanium are prominently black polished by hand, with the rest of the movement finished in a “Côtes de Solliat” striping.
DC6
The DC6, compared to the more traditional elements of the DC1, pushes the brand’s design language forward into a much more modern independent sensibility – the lugs are now sculpted and more dimensional, while the center seconds hand and traditional crystal over the entire dial are now gone. Instead, you’ll find two sapphire domes, one containing the inclined tourbillon (which serves as the seconds hand), and the other containing a convex dial with prominently curved hands. Without a crystal covering the entire top portion of the case, a prominent plate of guilloché sits in its place, adding an immediate tactile component to the watch. The brand cites inspiration from the half-hunter pocket watches of the 18th and 19th centuries, where guilloché was not implemented as an aesthetic embellishment on a dial, but rather as a functional case decoration to make the exterior easier to hold and harder-wearing.
Candaux says that this specific guilloché pattern is his own design, named “Pointe du Risoux,” and attributes it to his hobby of paragliding, where the distortion of trees he sees when gliding above informed this sweeping take on Clous de Paris. As someone who has very much not paraglided in Le Soliat, I’m just going to take his word for it.
If you haven’t figured out from the photos, this is a very textural watch, with the guilloché adding to the interplay of the micro-blasted and highly polished surfaces. Both the DC1 and DC6 feel similar in terms of size, but they are ever so slightly different on paper. The DC1 is listed at 43.9mm in diameter with a thickness of 12.9mm, and the DC6 is a hair smaller at 43mm in diameter and 12.6mm in thickness. To be honest, dimensions don’t mean much to me here because the case designs are so far off from what is traditional. On the wrist, these wear better than you would imagine, given that the lugs are quite short and so the straps downturn immediately. Also, the sapphire crystal on the caseback is curved to better hug the wrist. But they are still large watches. You wear one of these in the same way you would wear a Horological Machine – just embrace it. This is not your daily under-the-dress-cuff watch.
DC7
Last but certainly not least, the DC7. Gone are the off-center dial, power-reserve gauge, as well as guilloché and hand graining. Instead, a colorful sunray-finished dial takes center stage, with the 12 o’clock portion of the dial interrupted by the tourbillon. It’s a much simpler design, giving more of the spotlight to the tourbillon at the top, and draws more attention to the actual complex finishing and curves of the case itself.
Just like there is less to see this time on the front, there is also less to see on the back. With the DC7, a new caliber is introduced and we lose a lot of the elements that I found exciting on the other caliber, mainly the black polished going train bridges and prominent striping. Perhaps this caliber emphasizes the anglage of the plate more, but it lacks the visual bravado of the other movement.
The incline is still there but less dramatic on this caliber.
Interestingly too, though the design is much simpler, this is the largest watch of the trio, coming in at 44mm in diameter and 14mm in thickness. It’s noticeable, and I think this would have been a scenario in which I’d have loved to see a streamlined Candaux model also lead to a much smaller case size. But nevertheless, it’s still a visually impactful watch and is unquestionably an extension of Candaux’s design philosophy. The one here with a green dial is a limited edition of eight pieces, with the standard production model having a silver dial and blue accents.
At a production size of around 18-20 pieces per year, and with the DC1 coming in at CHF 195,000, DC6 at CHF 235,000, and DC7 at CHF 149,000, these are clearly meant for the intense (and cash-flush) collector. But in the short time that I was able to spend with these pieces, I really quite enjoyed them. Liking a design is subjective, but what tells me if a design is successful or not is the level of deliberate decision that goes into every element. When I sat down with Candaux as I looked at each piece, I was really impressed by the level of rationale he held for every piece of the puzzle down to the gold chatons. As such, the best way I can say to appreciate pieces like these, to borrow a term from the beverage world, is to take them in the same way you would a single-origin coffee or a single-vineyard wine.
This is a brand where everything from the ground up – from cases to calibers to decoration – is designed by the man behind the brand, and as a result, the final product is for the customer who wants something unabashedly him.
For more on David Candaux and these pieces, click here.
Hodinkee