David Candaux presents two of his timepieces at GPHG 2026

In the Vallée de Joux, watchmaking innovation never quite unfolds the way it does elsewhere. It is rooted in a history, in a territory and in expertise handed down from generation to generation, yet it also draws on a constant drive to push the limits of mechanics.

It is within this balance between heritage and creative freedom that David Candaux continues his journey in contemporary independent watchmaking. For the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2026, the House presents two radically different creations, entered in two separate categories: Tourbillon and Mechanical Exception.

Two timepieces, two architectures and two demonstrations of a single philosophy: turning mechanics into a field for research and expression.

DC6 Night Forest: lightness as a mechanical language

In the Tourbillon category, David Candaux presents the DC6 Night Forest, the latest evolution of the DC6 collection.

Its architecture combines UD carbon and Grade 5 titanium to achieve a particularly lightweight construction. The watch thus weighs only 45 grams, a feature that fully contributes to its identity.

This pursuit of lightness comes with an aesthetic world directly inspired by the Vallée de Joux. The smoked topaz green of the dial evokes the forests and alpine landscapes that surround the historic cradle of Swiss watchmaking.

But behind this apparent lightness lies a particularly sophisticated mechanism.

The DC6 Night Forest is driven by the in-house H74 calibre, whose architecture incorporates a flying tourbillon inclined at 30 degrees. This construction is one of David Candaux’s technical signatures and contributes to the immediately recognizable identity of his creations.

The contrast between contemporary materials, the complexity of the movement and the traditional hand-crafted finishes sums up the House’s approach on its own.

The DC6 Night Forest will be produced in only eight examples.

A flying tourbillon inclined at 30 degrees

At David Candaux, the tourbillon is not merely one more watchmaking complication. It becomes an architectural element in its own right.

In the DC6 Night Forest, the flying tourbillon inclined at 30 degrees sits at the heart of a construction designed around lightness and visual depth.

The use of UD carbon and Grade 5 titanium considerably reduces the weight while retaining a technical architecture suited to everyday use.

This combination of cutting-edge materials and traditional craftsmanship illustrates the approach championed by David Candaux: harnessing the possibilities offered by contemporary technologies without giving up the demands of artisanal haute horlogerie.

DC12 MaveriK: seventeen years of research

In the Mechanical Exception category, David Candaux presents a creation of an entirely different nature.

The DC12 MaveriK is the result of seventeen years of research devoted to a new regulating architecture.

At the heart of this creation is a twin balance connected by a flying planetary differential. This is itself mounted on a spiral-spring shock absorber.

This solution, presented as unprecedented, is protected by three patents.

The DC12 MaveriK therefore does not simply seek to reinterpret an existing complication. It tackles one of the fundamental questions of mechanical watchmaking: regulation and the pursuit of precision.

Two balances to rethink regulation

The twin balance forms the heart of the DC12 MaveriK’s architecture.

The presence of two regulating organs connected by a flying planetary differential opens a different path in chronometric research. The system is completed by a spiral-spring shock absorber, which contributes to this entirely new regulating architecture.

After seventeen years of development, this construction reflects a clearly assumed ambition: to explore an original mechanical path rather than reproduce solutions already established.

It is precisely in this freedom that David Candaux’s signature is found.

Two creations, one philosophy

The presentation of the DC6 Night Forest and the DC12 MaveriK at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2026 thus makes it possible to observe two complementary facets of the House.

The first favours lightness, with an architecture in UD carbon and Grade 5 titanium, a weight of only 45 grams and the flying tourbillon inclined at 30 degrees of the H74 calibre.

The second focuses on regulation and chronometric research with a twin-balance architecture connected by a flying planetary differential and protected by three patents.

Two approaches that seem different but rest on a single conviction: independent watchmaking retains its full capacity for innovation when it is willing to question established architectures.

For David Candaux, the tradition of the Vallée de Joux is therefore not a limit. On the contrary, it becomes the starting point for constant research.

With these two creations presented at GPHG 2026, the House thus pursues a singular trajectory, at the crossroads of contemporary engineering, artisanal finishing and creative freedom.

Both the DC6 Night Forest and the DC12 MaveriK reflect a single ambition: to design timepieces that do not merely measure time, but that offer a new way of thinking about watch mechanics.

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