Introducing – Giuliano Mazzuoli Cemento, a wristwatch made of cement (specs & price)

Let us draw the context. You’re passionate about watches. You’re professional life has been successful and you achieved to fulfill your dreams by building an interesting collection of watches, and you even dared to look at independent watchmakers, knowing that mainstream brands are not for you anymore, as the connoisseur that you are. Then you look for the next addition to your beloved collection. However, you’re bored with normal watches, with their cases in steel, in gold, in carbon, in sapphire or in everything ending by -um (titanium, tantalum, ruthenium, platinum…). We might have a solution for you, a wristwatch made of cement, the Giuliano Mazzuoli Cemento.

If there’s one thing that can be said about Giuliano Mazzuoli, it’s about the boldness of his watches. It’s not about watchmaking skills, as his watches remain relatively simple – still being automatic ones. No, it’s about shaping cases, with a unique form, and to implement materials that you clearly don’t expect in a wristwatch. He already did cases in carbon fiber or in “carboaluminium” (a silver looking carbon fibre, and that’s already quite unusual). The story begins to get really interesting with a watch made out of marble, the Manometro Carrara. Admit it, a watch in Carrara marble is not your usual suspect. To continue into the use of bold and unexpected materials, Giuliano Mazzuoli now turns into something more industrial and even less expected in watchmaking, as being the opposite of luxury: cement.

As you can imagine, the Giuliano Mazzuoli Cemento is a first in watchmaking. Based on the same design of the case – or the “carrure“, as Mazzuoli calls it – as the Carrara watch, he now uses cement. It’s not just about finding another material for the sake of it, but more about giving consistency to the overall design itself, with a material and a color that can match the idea of this pebble like case. Using a fine grain, the case of the Giuliano Mazzuoli Cemento is polished to reveal a nice texture, both visually and under the fingers. The rest of the watch remains voluntarily pure and clean, in order to leave the show centered on the case and material used.

The Giuliano Mazzuoli Cemento is a 45mm x 13.5mm – but do consider the absence of lugs and you’ll have a watch that is, in the end, relatively small on the wrist. The dial is made out of matte black ceramic, with metallic applied indexes and hands. Inside the watch ticks a robust ETA movement to provide the hours, the minutes and the seconds. But once again, the idea is not into watchmaking skills, but entirely focused on the design and the emotions and feels – sight and touch. Now you imagine that such a unique watch, produced by an independent watchmaker, with an automatic movement, will be priced much higher than the average… And in fact it remains relatively accessible, at 3,600 Euros (retail, including taxes), so a price to compare to normal steel or titanium watches from mainstream brands. More details on www.giulianomazzuoli.it.

Specifications of the Giuliano Mazzuoli Cemento

• Case: 45mm diameter x 13.5mm height – Cylindrical case made in Italy of cement – sapphire crystal on front – 50m water resistant
• Movement: ETA 2824/2 – automatic – 38h power reserve – 28,800 vibrations/h – hours, minutes and seconds
• Strap: black calfskin leather with steel folding clasp
• Europe retail price: 3,600 Euros