Independent David Candaux releases another version of his DC6, now in a forged carbon case combined with the natural titanium and a smoky topaz green dial.
Press Release information with commentary in italics.
New: David Candaux DC6 Night Forest
The Candaux DC6 Night Forest has a retail price of CHF 248,000 before taxes. Limited Edition of 8 pieces.
Commentary
This novelty is a line extension to the DC6 which debuted in full titanium in 2018, and a version we covered in detail at its release in 2019. This is the exact same watch. The exact same movement. The big difference, and this is a big one, is the case material. It is now made of UD carbon combined with natural titanium.
Also new is the hour and minute sub-dial, which now features a topaz green dial in the fumé style going from bright green to near black at the periphery. The case, though measuring 45mm, is curved and sits comfortably on most wrists. It certainly does on mine.
But this selection of forged carbon and natural titanium is no fluke. David has spent time to select the carbon. While others use fragments of carbon fibers embedded in resin compressed under heat and pressure, he chose to use UD carbon.
These are unidirectional fibers and are sheets of continuous fibers. The ultra thin layers are laid on top of each other, each rotated 45° to the previous. And then it is bonded with resin under high heat and pressure. This is the same process used in making aerospace components, as well as high end bicycle frames.
The UD carbon is used on the caseband and bezel. And is mechanically assembled onto the titanium container which the movement is sealed within. The titanium is also special, in the sense that is is not done by anodisation. But by plasma discharge which transforms the surface into a dense ceramic. And then hand finished.
As with the early models, the movement bridges and mainplate are in titanium, with beryllium copper used for the wheels.
The flying tourbillon is inclined 30°, and remains a spectacle sitting at the 9 o’clock position. The rest of the dial is the half-hunter bit. Also unchanged. The guilloché is executed on the titanium front of the dial. And presents a magnificent tactile feel when the owner passes his fingers across.
And then there is the magic crown. I was fascinated with it when I first encountered it. And the last I played witht he crown in November 2025, I remain mesmerised. This remains unchanged.
Visually the watch looks completely different from the DC6 we reviewed in 2019. But the lightness on the wrist remains. Nay, it is now even lighter, the entire watch, as it sits on the wrist weighs in at only 45g. The pricing remains exactly the same at CHF 248k since its first release in 2018.
Release information
Two materials. One design. Nothing superfluous.
The DC6 naturally calls for carbon. A contemporary watch, designed for everyday wear, made for a life on the move. The material speaks for itself in this collection.
Following an initial version in forged carbon, which quickly found its audience, David Candaux continued to explore the potential of this material. The result: a timepiece in UD carbon and natural titanium, featuring a smoky topaz green dial. The lightest piece in the collection: 45 grams on the wrist. Water-resistant to 50 meters. Produced in a limited edition of eight pieces.
FROM FORGED CARBON TO UD CARBON: THE RIGHT MATERIAL
Forged carbon is all about the shavings. Fragments of carbon fibers embedded in epoxy resin, compressed under heat and pressure. The result has presence. The speckled surface catches the light in unpredictable ways. But the structure carries its own weakness: random fibers, a resin acting as a binder, and a binder that eventually gives way. Under prolonged stress, at the edges, or under impact, forged carbon disintegrates. The resin matrix cracks deeply. The chips peel away, slowly, insidiously.
UD carbon, short for unidirectional, is based on a different logic entirely. No flakes, but sheets of continuous fibers. The fibers run through the entire thickness of the material, without interruption. The resin is present, but secondary. Less abundant, better distributed, structurally marginal. Under impact, force travels along the fibers rather than concentrating at the resin-flake interfaces. The material is homogeneous, mechanically coherent, and significantly more resistant to delamination.
Precisely what DC6 demands, in terms of both durability and aesthetics.
Where forged carbon appears speckled and random, UD carbon reveals itself as veined, striated, and directional. This is not an esthetic decision. It is the direct result of the internal structure: ultra-thin 30-micron plies stacked with precision; each rotated 45° relative to the previous one. When light glances off the surface, it reveals these successive rotations as regular undulations. The same phenomenon that gives the grain of aged wood its depth and direction.
Combined with titanium, UD carbon gives the watch a virtually eternal lifespan. The right materials have been placed in the right places, based on external stresses and to best protect the movement. UD carbon does not scratch easily. It does not disintegrate. It does not develop a patina. In twenty years,
the case will be exactly as it is today.ARCHITECTURE: TITANIUM DRESSED IN CARBON
Carbon is porous. This is a physical reality. The case design takes this into account. The movement is housed in a titanium chamber that ensures water resistance. This chamber is then clad: the case band and bezel are made of UD carbon, all held together by titanium stretchers that run the full length of the case and extend naturally into the lugs. No adhesives. A fully mechanical assembly for an aesthetically pleasing timepiece, 45mm in diameter, water-resistant to 50 meters. A DC6 that weighs 45 grams, robust and built to last.
On the dial, the hand-finished natural guilloché titanium plates, the DC6’s signature since its inception, are framed by a titanium ring coated in black PVD. A play of volumes, materials, and depths. The titanium “Magic Crown” is also capped in carbon.
BLACK TITANIUM: A SURFACE, NOT A COATING
In traditional watchmaking, bluing steel is not a surface coating, but a transformation. The steel is heated to the right temperature, around 300 degrees, and the iron oxidizes naturally. An oxide layer forms, integral to the metal itself, with its thickness determining the color: first straw yellow, then violet, until it reaches that deep blue that watchmakers have sought for centuries. Nothing is applied to the steel. It is transformed by heat, from the inside out.
Titanium anodization follows the same principle, with electricity replacing heat. The component is immersed in an electrolytic bath and subjected to a controlled current. Voltage drives the oxidation: a layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2) forms from within the metal’s own surface rather than over it. Each voltage threshold produces a specific oxide thickness, and each thickness produces a specific colour. Bronze, purple, blue, turquoise, green: as many shades, as many precise voltages.
Black is another matter.
The TiO₂ layer is optically transparent. It does not absorb light. It interacts with it through interference, like oil on water. Yet interference cannot produce black. The spectrum of standard anodization runs through the visible colors as the voltage rises, but black is not part of it. Worse still before reaching it, the oxide layer hits its dielectric breakdown threshold. Electric arcs form on the surface, degrading its quality and roughening the titanium. This roughness is precisely what must be avoided.
Black is achieved through micro-arc oxidation: localized plasma discharges transform the surface into a dense ceramic layer, integrated into the metal. This layer absorbs light rather than refracting it. The result is bonded to the titanium, does not flake off, and the surface retains its original finish.
Transformed this way, without any coating, PVD, or DLC, the tourbillon cage of the DC6 Night Forest is an intense black, without losing its mechanical properties. In a category where black is almost always achieved through galvanic processes or coating, this distinction is technical. In a hundred years, the tourbillon cage will be exactly as it is today.
THE DIAL: A SMOKY TOPAZ GREEN BUILT ON ILLUSION
The dial is domed, a design dictated by the movement’s architecture. It is on this surface that the first secret unfolds: a hand-applied sunburst finish, whose striations radiate from the center toward the edges. Light does not reflect uniformly; it shifts with the wrist.
Next comes the anodization. The same physical principle as for the tourbillon cage, but in a standard process, without plasma discharge. The voltage is pushed to the limits of the accessible spectrum to achieve this topaz green reminiscent of mountain lakes on a clear day.
A transparent lacquer is then applied over the entire surface. It does not alter the color. It resonates with the sunburst pattern beneath, amplifying the reflections and adding the depth that anodization alone cannot produce.
The smoky effect, however, is an illusion. The curved surface prevents any direct gradient on the dial. The solution: a simple translucent black circle applied to the base, created by hand using an airbrush. The eye does the rest. It interprets this dark edge as depth, a gradual darkening toward the edges. The gradient does not exist. It is merely suggested.
To heighten the illusion, the numerals and hour markers are crafted from silver powder using a decal technique, with layers of material. They appear to float within the depth of the dial. The black-gold minute track at the base completes this spatial composition: it anchors the eye along the perimeter, reinforces the impression of depth, and transforms the dial into an object that shifts with every movement of the wrist.
SENSORY EXPERIENCE: FOUR TEXTURES, ONE DIALOGUE
The DC6 Night Forest is read as much with the hands as with the eyes.
The DC6 already stood out for its tactile dimension. The Pointes du Risoux guilloché pattern, hand executed on titanium using in-house expertise developed to achieve a perfect finish on every motif, can be felt under the finger as much as it can be seen. The sapphire domes draw the eye into the movement. This sensory architecture remains intact in the Night Forest.
We find titanium in the side lugs: bare metal, sharp edges, cold to the touch. Then there is UD carbon: a different material, a different register. Neither cold nor polished. Silky is the most accurate word. A surface that the hand perceives as warm, textured, immediate. The “Magic Crown”, made of titanium, is topped with carbon. The transition between the two, under the fingertip, is deliberate. Two materials in harmony, complementing one another.
THE H74 CALIBER
The H74 is developed entirely in-house at Le Solliat. Bridges and mainplate in Grade 5 titanium, chosen for its natural properties. Corrosion-resistant. Anti-magnetic. Thermally stable. Lightweight. Biocompatible. David Candaux remains the only watchmaker to have implemented this approach across all his movements.
The wheels are made of beryllium copper (CuBe). The axles, pinions, pins, and screws are made of stainless steel. Each component is crafted and finished by hand, in keeping with the savoir-faire passed down in the Valley since 1740.
At the heart of the movement: the flying tourbillon inclined at 30°, completing a revolution in 60 seconds. The inclination serves a mechanical purpose. A wristwatch constantly passes through different positions. The 30° tourbillon processes a greater number of them in less time. A real chronometric advantage, on the wrist. The small seconds hand is directly integrated into the cage.
The sapphire case back reveals the movement. The cascading bridges, inclined at 3° relative to the case, create a depth effect that shifts with the light. Eighteen curved recessed angles, each mirror polished by hand. Straight graining, polished bevels, and pearling beneath the bridges.
Power reserve: 55 hours, indicated by a hand at 12 o’clock. The motto “Le Cœur et l’Esprit” inscribed on the indicator. Frequency: 21,600 vibrations per hour. Phillips terminal curve balance spring. Variable-inertia balance wheel with gold adjustment screws.
THE “MAGIC CROWN”
Every watch from the David Candaux maison is based on the same visual tension: horizontal symmetry, vertical asymmetry. The balance that Leonardo da Vinci articulated in the Vitruvian Man: natural, pleasing to the eye, faithful to the body’s proportions. To achieve this, the conventional crown at 3 o’clock had to disappear.
The solution draws on the retractable ballpoint pen and its bistable cam: one press to deploy, one press to retract. Simplicity. Robustness. David Candaux developed its own version, tested 28,000 times, equivalent to four presses a day for twenty years, with no measurable wear. The result is a patent: 31 components that condition the entire architecture of the case and movement. The “Magic Crown” at 6 o’clock is the hallmark of every model in the brand’s collection.
Three positions: winding, time setting, neutral. When not in use, it disappears into the case. The watch is adjusted on the wrist with a natural gesture. Water-resistant to 50 meters in all positions.
CONTEMPORARY. MECHANICAL. ESSENTIAL.
Carbon in this form belongs to aerospace structures, Formula 1 monocoques, and machines engineered to be both lightweight and sturdy. A vocabulary of performance. David Candaux brings it to the wrist with the same logic: a watch for a life in motion, for those who don’t want to feel the weight of what they’re wearing.
But the veined surface of the UD carbon pulls the piece toward nature. It is not the bark; it is the heart of the wood. The same veins, the same lines that run and intersect, the same underlying order found in the trees of Risoux. The most technical material in this watch is also the one that creates the most direct link to the forest. This duality, mechanical and natural, contemporary and rooted, is the realm David Candaux works in. It is also, at its core, what the Vallée de Joux has always been: a place where the workshop and the forest face each other.
David Candaux DC6 Night Forest Specifications
DC6 NIGHT FOREST Hand-wound titanium movement with 5 patents * 30° inclined flying tourbillon • hours and minutes • small seconds integrated into the tourbillon • power reserve
MOVEMENT Movement diameter: 35 mm (16 ¼ lines) * Thickness: 6.20 mm * Number of movement components: 287 * Tourbillon cage: 29 components * Cage weight: 0.35 g * Watch weight: 45 g * “Magic Crown” crown: 31 components * Number of jewels: 47 • semi-gloss ruby jewels set in solid molded chatons * Power reserve: 55 hours • indicated by a cam system * Barrels: Two fast-rotating coaxial barrels coupled in series, fixed-flange mainspring * Balance wheel: Internal variable inertia, gold mean-time screws (10 mm diameter) * Frequency: 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hz) * Hairspring: Phillips terminal curve • titanium anchor and anchor pin * Bridges and main plate: Titanium • hand-polished beveled angles and chamfers, 18 mirror-polished inward beveled angles, straight-grained, pearling under the bridges • Special hand-finished “Côtes du Solliat” • Cascading bridges * Wheel train: Beryllium-copper wheels • Stainless steel axles, pinions, pins, and screws • Sharp, rounded, diamond-beveled edges on both sides * Movement side: Movement inclined at a 3° angle relative to the case • Black-polished titanium tourbillon * bridge, hand-polished bevels and angles • Gold plate with engraved and grained number, polished bevels and moldings, brushed flanks • Yellow gold medallion with bear head logo Tourbillon: Single-axis flying balance wheel inclined at 30° • Cage inclined at 3° relative to the case • 60-second revolution • Black anodized titanium tourbillon cage * Displays: Hours and minutes at 3 o’clock • Small seconds at 9 o’clock • Power reserve: needle-type window at 12 o’clock
CASE Architecture: Titanium case clad in UD (unidirectional) carbon • mechanical assembly * Shape: Asymmetrical 6 o’clock – 12 o’clock and symmetrical 3 o’clock – 9 o’clock • Basin-shaped form * Materials: Bezel, middle case, and case back in UD carbon • curved side lugs in microblasted, satin-finished, and hand-polished titanium * Guilloché decorative plates: Hand-finished natural titanium Pointes du Risoux pattern • two plates secured by stainless steel screws * Sapphire domes: Two • tourbillon and small seconds at 9 o’clock, hours and minutes at 3 o’clock * Sapphire case back: Large aperture revealing the movement • Clipped olive at 6 o’clock * Case diameter: 45 mm * Case thickness: 11.29 mm * Water resistance: 5 atm – 50 m • water-resistant in all crown positionsCrown: Retractable “Magic Crown” • pressure-activated • 3 positions: neutral, time setting, winding • titanium with UD carbon cap * Dials: Semi-spherical hour and minute sub-dial in topaz green sunburst anodized titanium, with a trompel’œil smoked effect created by layers of translucent lacquer and airbrushing • Indexes and Arabic numerals applied in silver powder • Graduated minute track treated with black gold • Power reserve indicator lacquered in black and zapon with the inscription “Le Cœur et l’Esprit” * Hands: Black anodised titanium hour hand, white lacquered titanium minute hand • tapered and curved hands, hand-beveled and hand-polished • small seconds integrated into the tourbillon, in white lacquered titanium • power reserve: inverted syringe-shaped indicator in white lacquered titanium * Strap and buckle: Black rubber, handmade, topaz green topstitching, Velcro buckle engraved with the David Candaux logo
EDITION Limited edition: 8 pieces Price: CHF 248,000 Warranty: 10 years Unveiling: March 30, 2026
