America?s largest luxury watch show, WatchTime New York, returns to Manhattan?s Gotham Hall on October 26-27 (click here for event details and to purchase tickets). As we count down to the big event, we continue to spotlight many of the new timepieces that guests will discover there. Today we turn our attention to an exclusive WatchTime New York 2018 debut: the Romain Gauthier Insight Micro-Rotor Natural Titanium with an oven-fired, black enamel dial.
Romain Gauthier.
When Romain Gauthier released his first titanium timepiece, the Prestige HMS Natural Titanium, in 2011, the reaction he received wasn?t quite what he was expecting.
?Collectors knew me as an exponent of traditional Vallée de Joux watchmaking, presented in precious metal cases,? he says in a brand release. ?When I unveiled the Prestige HMS Natural Titanium, people said: ?Why" What are you doing combining your type of watchmaking with titanium"? My response was: ?Wait, bear with me on this one.’?
In the seven years since Gauthier debuted the Prestige HMS, those initial collectors and horological pundits have quieted down. Gauthier followed up the Prestige HMS by introducing his Logical One timepiece in both Natural Titanium and Black Titanium in 2016 and watched as the usage of titanium across the industry?from monolithic conglomerates to small-scale manufactures?flourished.
?I feel more and more collectors are realizing that Haute Horlogerie doesn?t have to come served in a precious metal o...