Romain Gauthier is a luxury watch brand that is known for its distinguished finishing and high-quality workmanship. They excel in producing stylish fashion accessories with practical features and innovative engineering. The latest offering is an impressive model that highlights these characteristics with a few departures from the standard elements of the brand called the Romain Gauthier Insight Micro-Rotor Squelette. If you’ve not yet seen or heard about this watch, here are 10 things you don’t know about the Insight Micro-Rotor Squelette that you might like to know.
1. The Insight Micro-Rotor Squelette makes a departure in materials
Romain Gauthier has traditionally used brass material for the bridges and base plate of their skeletonized movement. The choice was made to instead use titanium material for the bridges and base plate. Each component, however, has maintained the same finish which is far more difficult to do with the alternate materials used. We begin our thorough examination of the timepiece with this observation that points to the extra attention that has been paid to the finer details of the elements of the watch.
2. Two dials tell the time
The open-worked skeletonized dial is one of the most unique designs we’ve seen to date. The hour and minute markers are contained within a smaller subdial that is placed at the 12:00 position on the face. The placement of a second subdial in a smaller rendition sits at the lower portion of the hours and minutes dial with its placement at the center of the dial for a stacked aesthetic that clearly shows the seconds as time elapses.
3. It’s a skeletonized masterpiece
The dial is highly legible with a darker background (depending on your color choice) and white numeral depicting the hours, minutes, and seconds. It’s highly legible despite the smaller size of the subdials. This allows more room to see the inner workings of the mechanical movement beneath. It’s one of the most remarkable feats of design innovation we’ve seen in an updated skeletonized watch.
4. Each example is time-intensive labor of love
Such tremendous attention has been paid to detail that each piece has taken the skilled watchmakers and craftsmen approximately 250 hours to complete the mirror-polished bevels of the bridges and plate of the movement. This is not including the preparation and assembly of the other components of the timepiece. The fact that they were working with titanium material made this an even more challenging task.
5. The showcased movement is intricate
Romain Gauthier took extra efforts to ensure that the open-worked dial revealed a movement that has been skillfully designed and crafted to reflect the delicacy and elaborate personality of the watch. This was accomplished through a small rotor that is still thick enough to get the job done for winding the twin mainsprings. Yet more innovation was necessary to accommodate the off-center time display. The round spokes of the gears and the S slot screws are typical Romain Gauthier. These elements maintain the brand’s signature design style. Many of the bridges were slimmed down to the narrowest possible diameter with the smallest just 0.7 mm high.
6. You have your choice of cases
The Insight Micro-Rotor Squelette is a very special watch that features a variety of premium materials. As previously stated, this is a special order that is somewhat customizable. The case is available in your choice of carbonium or a variety of precious metals. These include 18-karat red gold,18-karat white gold, 950 Platinum, or grade 5 titanium in natural or black DLC. The case measures 42 mm in width and a depth of 12.9 mm for a thick profile.
7. You can customize the dial
The manufacture only carbonium edition features a carbonium hour minute dial with a monobloc small seconds dial at the center. The color of the dial accents and the hands are customizable featuring oven-fired enamel. This allows consumers the rare opportunity to work with the craftsmen to create a watch that bears the colors that are reflective of their own personal taste and preferences.
8. It is water-resistance to 50 meters
This watch was not intended to be a diver’s watch but it is remarkably water-resistant for being a skeletonized edition. Other ways of expressing the resistance to water include 5 ATM or 5 bar. What this means to the owner of the watch is that technically you should be able to swim while wearing the watch or when taking a shower. If you get caught in a rainstorm it will be safe from damage, but it’s not recommended to expose the watch for long periods of submersion in water.
9. You also have a choice of straps
The manufacture only carbonium edition of the Insight Micro-Rotor Squelette comes with a natural rubber strap with customizable colors. It fastens to the wrist via a carbonium pin buckle. For special orders, you have a lot more options. You can either go with a natural rubber strap in your choice of colors, or with an alligator leather strap that is made in Switzerland, hand-stitched, and also color customizable with your choice of a pin or deployant buckle. The platinum case choice is the only exception that comes with an 18-karat white gold buckle. The other straps come in a buckle that matches the case material.
10. The movement is a special manufacture
The movement that powers the watch is an Insight Micro-Rotor Squeletter caliber. It is an automatic winding type with a micro-rotor that is made of 22-karat gold. The movement measures 32.1 mm in diameter with a thickness of 6.8 mm. The power reserve is 80 hours. This is a 33 jewels movement that beats at a frequency of 28,800 vph. The functions are off-center hours minutes and small seconds. This watch and all of the available variants are available through Romain Gauthier with a variety of pricing options. The Manufacture-Only Carbonium edition is 155,000 CHF. The Special Order in 950 platinum is 148,000 CHF. The Special Order in 18-karat red gold is 108,000 CHF.
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