D. Candaux

David Candaux is a third-generation watchmaker from the Vallée de Joux, a student of the École Technique de la Vallée de Joux who credits mentors Gabriel Locatelli and Philippe Dufour for shaping his approach to the craft. After 17 years at Jaeger-LeCoultre working on complicated pieces, he launched his eponymous atelier in Le Solliat in 2017 with 'The First 8' — a limited run of eight watches built around his in-house Calibre 1740, named for the year a watchmaker is first documented as working in the Vallée de Joux.

The Calibre 1740 is a manually wound, hand-finished movement made almost entirely in titanium, comprising 287 parts and running at 3Hz with twin mainspring barrels for a 55-hour power reserve. Its signature feature is a flying tourbillon inclined at 30 degrees and mounted on ceramic ball bearings — designed, like Greubel Forsey's inclined tourbillons, to average out positional errors more effectively on the wrist — with the balance itself further inclined at 3 degrees relative to the case. A patented 'Magic Crown,' built from 31 components, retracts into the case at 6 o'clock. The asymmetric dial layout places hours and minutes off-center, often on a hand-grained or enamel sub-dial with motifs such as a wind rose, while a power-reserve indicator and the tourbillon itself sit in counterpoint across the face — finished with the workshop's own 'Côtes du Solliat' striping and a guilloché pattern called 'Pointe du Risoux,' inspired by the silhouette of the region's fir trees.

Successive references — including the DC1, DC6, and the 1740 Half Hunter — share the Calibre 1740 architecture while varying the seconds display (a central hand on the DC1 versus an indicator integrated into the tourbillon cage on the DC6) and case treatment, with the Half Hunter borrowing the partially-shielded dial openings of antique captain's watches and marine instruments. Every movement and case is designed and made in-house in extremely small numbers, with each piece protected by several patents covering the tourbillon mounting and crown mechanism.