The Nicolas Delaloye Renaissance Tantalum 39mm and Its Superb Handmade Movement

Despite being an experienced watchmaker in his 50s, Nicolas Delaloye remains one of the discreet names in the independent watchmaking scene. But there are good reasons for that. This AHCI member just regained his independence and re-started making watches a few months ago, after a long period serving as a watchmaker-restorer at the Patek Philippe Museum – objectively, not the worst of experiences. Before that, in his long career, Delaloye had already produced a few watches as an independent watchmaker. Today, after years of working for others, the passion to create under his own name has been reignited, marking both a return to this previous activity and a personal rebirth, inspiring the name Renaissance… or, to be precise, the Nicolas Delaloye Renaissance Tantalum 39mm. 

Nicolas Delaloye is an experienced watchmaker who has been working independently since 2024. After graduating from the Geneva Watchmaking School in 1991, he worked for Patek Philippe and other brands. In 2000, he left De Witt and started to work by himself, first assembling watches for other brands (or complication movement manufacturers) and then creating his own watches with the calibre ND01, a classic time-only watch with a 3-day power reserve hand-wound movement. His production slowly increased but remained very confidential until the subprime crisis forced him to focus mostly on assembling movements for others again. In 2016, he joined the Patek Philippe Museum to work on restoration for the venerable institution. But in 2024, after years of working for others, the passion came back, marking both a return to this previous activity and a personal rebirth, inspiring the name of his latest creation, Renaissance.

The Nicolas Delaloye Renaissance Tantalum 39mm watch is a classic time-only watch with an enamel dial. A modernised version of his first model, it uses the same movement (with some updates), and it encapsulates Delaloye’s philosophy… It is a simple, pure, yet refined dress watch, where understated elegance is elevated by meticulous craftsmanship and an evident attention to detail. Its case comes in a versatile 39mm diameter versus 41mm for previous models (rare 37mm versions also existed). It is made of tantalum, one of the hardest metals used in watchmaking, praised for its weight and dark grey-blue colour. If this is a rather unexpected choice, it is an interesting one that will seduce aficionados with its unique colour and heft.

The enamel dial is available in ivory or black, either with Roman or Breguet Arabic numerals. Its layout is balanced with a well-proportioned small seconds counter at 6 o’clock. The hands, slender yet sculpted, are blued or polished, depending on the dial colour. Their sharp profile ensures great legibility, while the domed polished finish is superb.

Turning the watch over, the exhibition caseback brings the hand-wound calibre ND01 into full view. If the starting point for this beautiful movement is the gear train of the AS1130, the handwork performed by Delaloye is visible throughout. The beautifully shaped German silver bridges feature large, meticulously finished chamfers and Côtes de Genève. Four of the jewels are pressed in chatons held in place by three screws. The swan-neck regulator – always something that we love to see in classic movements – is black polished. The large balance wheel has screws, a flat hairspring and beats at a slow rate of 18,000 vibrations/hour. The barrel delivers 3 days of power reserve, and its ratchet features wolf’s teeth. The super-thin click spring is another nice touch.

The Nicolas Delaloye Renaissance comes on a fabric and nubuck (black, beige or light blue) strap with tone-on-tone or purple stitching. The watch retails for CHF 45,000, which seems very fair for this elegant, exclusive handmade watch. The 24 watches of the limited edition were almost sold out at the time of publishing this article. 

All in all, the Nicolas Delaloye Renaissance Tantalum 39mm is a true collector’s watch for those in the know, people who will appreciate the attention to detail without the need for bling… In short, something that we love here at MONOCHROME. For more information, please visit www.delaloyegeneve.ch.