Some watches are clever. Fewer are genuinely necessary. The Dominique Renaud Pulse60 belongs to a rarer subset: watches that seem obvious in retrospect, as if the idea had always existed and someone simply needed the conviction to build it.
The Launch
Haute Horlogerie Dominique Renaud (HHDR) will present its eponymous brand for the first time at the Time To Watches fair in Geneva, running from 14 to 19 April 2026. The brand operates from Tolochenaz, at the heart of the Swiss watchmaking arc, where nearly twenty watchmakers, designers and engineers collaborate around a shared conviction: that genuine innovation in watchmaking demands rebuilding from the oscillator outward. The Pulse60 is the first and clearest expression of that conviction, and its architecture makes the argument with full transparency; literally, the balance wheel is visible from the front.
Three Dials
The Pulse60 launches across two case materials and three dial versions. The titanium references offer a choice between a silver-grey or black opaline base, both carrying diamond-cut openings that frame the large central balance aperture. Diamond-cutting uses a single-point precision tool to produce sharply faceted edges with strong light return, placing them in direct opposition against the diffused, non-directional character of the opaline ground. The technique generates depth through contrast rather than layering, and the result reads as architecturally purposeful.
The pink gold and titanium version takes a different surface direction. Its grey dial features guilloché, a rose-engine engraving technique that produces repeating geometric textures through controlled mechanical contact. In this application, the guilloché provides visual weight along the periphery and frames the large open aperture at the centre without competing with the movement beneath. Notably, all three versions share the same subdial layout: hours and minutes at 12 o’clock, a seconds counter at 9 o’clock, and a torque indicator at 3 o’clock.
Calibre BUA2024
The movement, calibre BUA2024 (for Balancier Ultra Amplitude, development began in 2024), presents the technical core of the watch. At 33 mm in diameter, it centres on a 20 mm balance wheel oscillating at 1 Hz, or 7,200 vibrations per hour, well below the industry standard of 2.5 to 5 Hz. A large, slow oscillator accumulates substantial rotational inertia; external disturbances such as shocks or torque variation represent a proportionally smaller fraction of its total energy, so their influence on the rate diminishes accordingly. Additionally, at 1 Hz the balance completes one full back-and-forth motion per second, which the dial makes legible through a dead half-second: the seconds hand advances in two discrete half-second steps, driven by physics rather than any supplementary mechanism.
Dominique Renaud also redesigned the roller and impulse-pin geometry to allow amplitude exceeding 360 degrees without knocking. In a conventional Swiss lever geometry, the balance swings to a ceiling determined by the roller’s contact with the back of the pallet fork; exceed that limit and the watch gains time. By reworking this relationship, the BUA2024 opens a theoretical maximum amplitude of around 700 degrees, placing the watch in an operating zone far removed from any mechanical constraint. Furthermore, a patented regulation system positions the index assembly entirely outside the balance wheel, leaving the full oscillator unobstructed from the dial side, a detail that resonates both aesthetically and intellectually.​​
The caseback reveals a movement architecture built on geometric clarity: circles, half-circles and straight lines, nothing superfluous. The lower section exposes an open escapement line that presents the offset double-roller system directly. I would welcome more formal documentation on the surface finishes, but the construction geometry does considerable communicative work in their absence. Power reserve reaches four days through hand-winding, with 29 jewels.
The Case
The case measures 40 by 44 mm with a 12 mm thickness, in Grade 5 titanium or the bi-material pink gold and titanium combination. Its defining characteristic is the deliberate absence of conventional boundaries: no bezel, no lugs, a domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment flowing into the case profile, and an integrated rubber strap with a push-button interchangeable mechanism that renders the join completely invisible.
The case top carries circular satin-brushing, a reference to 1970s sports watchmaking, a decade Dominique Renaud holds in particular affection, and polished flanks create a sharp contrasting profile along the sides. Water resistance sits at 3 ATM.
A Starting Point, Not an Arrival
Dominique Renaud framed the intent with characteristic directness: “By exploring the extreme regimes of watchmaking, I sought to show that it is possible to move beyond standards, and even rethink the balance-escapement interaction.” That statement carries real weight from someone who co-founded Renaud Papi and spent decades engineering complications for the industry’s most demanding houses. He knows exactly which standards he challenges.​
The Pulse60 enters the market at CHF 49,000 excluding taxes in titanium and CHF 59,000 in the pink gold and titanium version, available through authorised retailers from April 2026. For a ground-up rethinking of the regulating organ, delivered with this level of formal discipline, the positioning feels honest.
