When a watchmaker decides to make a timepiece out of the same stuff that goes into airplane wings, you know they’re not messing around. Romain Gauthier has just released the C by Romain Gauthier Carbonium® Edition, and it’s so light you might want to check your wrist twice to make sure it’s actually there.
Let’s talk numbers first: this watch weighs 43 grams. That’s including the strap and buckle. For context, a golf ball weighs about 45 grams. So yes, you’re basically wearing air that happens to tell time very accurately.
The Material That Makes It Special
The star of this show is Carbonium®, a high-tech carbon fiber composite that French company Lavoisier Composites makes from recycled aerospace materials. Those carbon fibers were originally meant to become part of an airplane, but instead they’re getting a second life on your wrist. The process involves compression-molding these fibers with epoxy resin, creating a material that’s three times more rigid than titanium but twice as light.
The visual result? A distinctive, dynamic pattern that catches light in interesting ways. Each piece looks slightly different because of how those 50mm-long carbon fibers arrange themselves during molding. It’s like having a unique fingerprint built into the case material.
A Dial That Doesn’t Hide Anything
Romain Gauthier decided that if you’re going to build something this technical, you might as well show it off. The dial is made from sapphire crystal with a pixelated pattern that mimics the Carbonium® texture. But here’s where it gets interesting: it’s partially openworked, meaning you can see straight through to the titanium movement beneath.
The main attraction through this window is the seconds wheel, which showcases the brand’s signature style with decorative circling and polished angles. You can also peek at the escapement assembly, including the balance wheel and pallet fork. It’s like having a technical documentary playing on your wrist, except it’s actually useful.
The time display itself is deliberately asymmetric, with off-center hour and minute hands at 12 o’clock and small seconds at 7 o’clock. The hour markers are tapered lines of varying lengths, creating what Gauthier calls “vanishing points” that reinforce a sense of continuity. Translation: it looks modern and slightly futuristic.
The Movement Inside
Inside beats an in-house manual-winding movement made from Grade 5 titanium. It’s got 60 hours of power reserve and runs at 28,800 vibrations per hour. But the real party trick is the stop-seconds mechanism that uses a snail cam, a design element Gauthier borrowed from his acclaimed Logical One watch.
Most watches use a simple lever to stop the balance wheel when you pull out the crown to set the time. Gauthier’s snail cam does something cleverer: when you pull the crown, it stops the balance, and when you push it back in, the cam’s spiral shape gives the balance a little push to get it going again. It’s the kind of small technical flourish that separates haute horlogerie from regular watchmaking.
The movement decoration is pure Romain Gauthier. The bridges feature Carbonium® inserts that echo the case material, creating visual harmony throughout the watch. Everything is finished by hand, with double bevels, straight-graining, and circular-graining where appropriate.
Making It Your Own
This isn’t a limited edition, but it is a “Manufacture Only” piece, meaning you can only buy it directly from Romain Gauthier. The upside? You get to customize it. The Super-LumiNova indices and numerals come in white, green, blue, yellow, or orange, and the rubber strap can be color-matched. The Carbonium® pattern on the strap even echoes the case material, because why stop the design language at the lugs?
The case measures 42mm across and just 9.6mm thick, with the crown positioned at 2 o’clock to avoid stabbing the back of your hand. Faceted edges on the bezel and caseback add visual interest and help manage how light plays across the Carbonium® surface.
At CHF 58,000 before taxes, this isn’t an impulse purchase. But for that price, you’re getting a watch that weighs less than a handful of grapes, looks like nothing else out there, and contains movement finishing that most people will never see but that you’ll know is there. Sometimes that’s exactly the point.
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