The new Renaud Tixier Monday Skeleton

Renaud Tixier is an independent brand born from a partnership between Dominique Renaud, the veteran inventor and co-founder of movement developer Renaud & Papi, and Julien Tixier, a talented young master watchmaker. Working from their high-complication workshop, the formidable duo is determined to rethink seven core horological principles, with seven watches named after the days of the week to be released over 20 years. Their first watch, the Monday, reimagines the micro-rotor and improves winding efficiency with a kinetic propeller. Two years after its debut, Renaud Tixier returns with a dramatic, fully skeletonised version of Monday in two 15-piece limited editions with green or blue accents.

With over forty years of experience, French master watchmaker Dominique Renaud’s expertise in designing mechanical movements and complications is indisputable. What some might not know, however, is his mastery of skeletonisation, a skill he honed during his formative years at Audemars Piguet, where he worked from 1979 to 1984. His young partner, Julien Tixier, is also renowned for his devotion to artisanal perfection and finishing techniques. The dazzling skeletonised interpretation of the Monday watch reveals all 262 components, each finished and decorated by hand.

What hasn’t changed, however, is the patented mechanism Renaud and Tixier developed to improve the efficiency of micro-rotor winding. Inspired by energy-recovery technologies used in the automotive industry, a flywheel coupled to a propulsion spring, aka the “dancer”, is placed at the heart of the platinum micro-rotor. By converting the slightest wrist movement into energy, this spring-loaded, shock-absorbing mechanism boosts winding efficiency by 40%. The latest specifications of the Monday Skeleton report a minimum 72-hour power reserve.

The large 36.8mm calibre RVI2023 in the 2024 inaugural Monday edition already offers privileged views of the winding mechanism, with a cutout window on the dial at 9 o’clock and a full view of the gold-plated platinum micro-rotor on the reverse under openworked, curved bridges. In fact, the ‘closed’ dial Monday, with its openworked titanium bridges, reveals a host of details on the movement side, including the winding system, the hand-engraved and enamelled barrel cover and the large 2.5Hz balance wheel, along with the 187 hand-bevelled inner angles.

With so many openworked features, it was only a matter of time before the movement – now RVI2025 –  underwent a full skeletonisation. Executed in the Renaud Tixier workshops in the village of Tolochenaz, on the shores of Lake Geneva, the radically skeletonised, contemporary-looking movement is hand-decorated with traditional finishings: black polishing, bevelling, circular graining, Côtes de Genève, rounded bridges and an impressive 238 hand-finished inward angles.

The new models feature either dark green or petrol blue accents on the dial and movement. The peripheral minutes flange and chapter ring framing the movement, as well as the track of the small seconds counter and the skeletonised dauphine-style hour and minute hands, are highlighted in blue or green. On the reverse, the spinning barrel cover of the mainspring drum is finished with layers of vibrant blue or green Grand Feu enamel.

The case retains its 40.8mm diameter and 12.6mm height (10.5mm without the domed sapphire crystal) and is crafted from 18k grey gold. Like earlier versions, the caseband and area between the lugs are hand-engraved with a burin to create the organic textured surface. To highlight the chiselled area, the thin bezel, the top surface of the lugs and the outer ring of the caseback are mirror polished.

To complete the package, the new Monday Skeleton models are paired with matching green or blue hand-stitched alligator leather straps and a white gold pin buckle. Limited to 15 pieces in each colour; price to be confirmed. More information at renaudtixier.com.