IntroducingThe David Candaux DC12 Maverik

David Candaux has delivered a new watch that is, in almost every detail, his own unique creation, and one that comes more than a decade after he first conceived the idea for the movement architecture and design. The DC12 Maverik is a new caliber for the independent watchmaker, born in the Vallée de Joux, with a double balance connected by a differential that regulates and averages the power inputs for each to keep them in sync. 

Called the C30, the new movement utilizes components and bridges made largely of titanium. It's housed in a dramatically curved case, also in satin and polished titanium, and measuring a very wearable 39.5 millimeters in diameter. With a concave nickel silver dial side showing off the differential that also houses the gear train for the blued steel small seconds hand, framed by architectural raised indexes around a sloping white minute track, the DC12 Maverik is a thoroughly modern watch design that, with its movement design and finishing nods to historical watchmaking innovations from Candaux's regional Swiss origins.

At Geneva Watch Days, where Candaux gave us a preview of the watch before its release today, he told us that he first began considering the design of a double balance movement more than 17 years ago. It was only in June of this year that he finally completed a working prototype movement. Due to limited production capabilities, (Candaux's namesake brand, which started in 2017, consists of just three people, including himself and his father, a former watchmaker with Patek Philippe), he plans to produce between ten and 15 of the watches a year. They are priced at CHF 98,000. 

Candaux says the DC12 Maverik is so named and inspired by an unlikely foreign source. Samuel A. Maverick, the Texas lawyer, politician, cattle rancher, and land owner, from whom the term 'maverick' is derived. The watch name underscores Candaux's own independence and insistence on doing things in his own way, he says. 

An example is the so-called 'magic crown' – one of the watchmaker's signature creations and utilized on previous models that sits flush on the lower front of the case and, with a push downwards, pops out to wind the movement or adjust the time. With another push, the crown can be telescoped back into place.  Above the crown and below the 6 o'clock marker, the dial reads 'LE COEUR & L'ESPRIT' (the heart and mind). 

The case itself features brushed satin and polished titanium surfaces that show off the dramatic curves and sloping elliptical shapes. The lugs are sculpted, long, and tapered, but still wearable due to their wrist-hugging and inward bend. An open caseback showcases the subtle, yet assertive and detailed finishing on the titanium bridges, including two that cradle each balance wheel in symmetrical curves. 

The dial, constructed of nickel silver, reveals Candaux's distinct yet readable time-telling design, with a traditional flamed-blued steel handset on a silver grain textured dial framed by a white opal hour-hand track with numbers at 3,6, and 9. The 12-hour position is marked at the bottom of the open differential, where a flame-blued small seconds hand also operates. The applied titanium indexes in stepped heights offer a dramatic three-dimensional element to the outer minute track of the concave sloping dial. 

With this unique caliber, Candaux has produced a double balance, openworked and uniquely positioned differential that features a very readable dial architecture and design in a surprisingly compact and wearable titanium case. The watch looks and feels modern, sitting extremely well, even on a diminutive wrist, thanks to the sloping curves of the titanium case. 

The visible movement is a joy to look at while paying tribute to the great watchmakers from the Vallée de Joux who have explored the double balance in the past, including Philippe Dufour with the Duality, which is certainly an inspiration for this extraordinary, distinctly modern, and singular new timepiece from David Candaux.

Brand: David Candaux
Model: DC12 Maverik

Diameter: 39.5 mm
Thickness: 11.7 mm
Case Material: Titanium
Dial Color: Grained silver and white opal
Indexes: Titanium applied and raised in varying heights
Lume: No
Water Resistance: 50 meters
Strap/Bracelet: Handmade rubber strap with metal and velcro clasp

Caliber: C30
Functions: Hours and minutes, small seconds at 12 0'clock, double balance with differential
Diameter: 29.5 mm
Thickness: 6.9 mm
Power Reserve: 58 hours
Winding: Hand wound
Frequency: 21'600 vibrations/ hour (3Hz)
Jewels: 45
Chronometer Certified: No

Price: CHF 98,000
Availability: Delivery of first pieces begins in November
Limited Edition: No but limited to ten to 15 pieces per year

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