Insight Micro-Rotor Squelette

• Limited Edition: available as a special order
• Case: 18-karat rose gold
• Size: 39.5mm
• Movement: automatic-winding manufacture caliber
• Power Reserve: approximately 80 hours
• Water Resistance: 50m
• Dial: black enamel greyed by hand-frosting
• Caseback: sapphire crystal
• Hands: rose gold
• Strap/Bracelet: rubber
• Factory Warranty: two years

This year marks the 15th anniversary of Romain Gauthier. It is fitting, then, that the Swiss watchmaker’s latest creation, Insight Micro-Rotor Squelette, calls on an area of craftsmanship for which he and his team have been heralded since the birth of the brand in 2005: hand-finishing.

By opening up and stripping down his high-end, time-only automatic caliber, Romain has created a truly contemporary skeleton watch that is a technical and artistic tour de force. Not only do the skeletonized, ultra-light natural titanium bridges and mainplate help to reveal the mesmerizing mechanics of the in-house movement, they also provide the perfect platform for the Romain Gauthier anglage specialists to demonstrate their immense skills. For each Insight Micro-Rotor Squelette movement features as many as 250 hours devoted to anglage alone, that’s to say the beveling, softening, smoothing and polishing by hand of the bridges and mainplate, in an extraordinary demonstration of watchmaking artistry.

Insight Micro-Rotor Squelette is available as a customizable 39.5mm piece in precious metal or titanium (natural or coated with DLC). To fuel our imaginations, Romain has created two Special Order examples.

One is in rose gold featuring an oven-fired black enamel dial greyed by hand-frosting with white and gilded dial accents, complemented by rose gold hands; mainplate and bridges beveled, softened and smoothed by hand, then matte-finished; and gilded micro-rotor, plaquettes and balance wheel. It is fitted with a grey, natural rubber strap with a rose gold pin buckle.

The other example is in platinum featuring an oven-fired, satin-blue enamel dial made in house by Romain’s wife Ana Gauthier, with white dial accents, accompanied by white gold hands; bridges and mainplate beveled, softened, smoothed and polished by hand; and rhodium-treated micro-rotor, plaquettes and balance wheel. It is accompanied by a navy-blue alligator leather strap with a white gold pin buckle.

Elements that collectors can customize include the material of the case; final finishing to the bridges and mainplate (hand-polished or matte-finished bevels); color of the dial and dial accents; material and color of the hands; color of the plaquettes and their engravings; and the material and color of the strap.