David Candaux DC12 MaveriK

Some projects lie dormant, settling, fermenting like a fine vintage. At David Candaux, they never gather dust. They mature. Then, one morning, the drawer opens, and the fire reignites. This fire is the DC12 MaveriK: it doesn’t follow the hours, it forges its own path.

David Candaux is a free-spirited watchmaker. His inspiration draws from nature, from the Vallée de Joux where he was born, from the verticality of the mountains and from the rigor of the watchmakers who came before him. Every gesture, every decision, every detail marries watchmaking heritage with the spirit of the twenty-first century. His quest for precision is born from adventure, from movement, from a dialogue between instinct and gravity.

2025 opens a new chapter. A demanding terrain, sculpted like a mountain ridge, where mechanical art meets technical daring. Drawing from the past, David builds an architecture that lives, breathes and inspires. After seventeen years of reflection, he unveils a radical idea: a free double balance. Heir to the Vallée de Joux yet freed from its codes, he forges a movement in motion, suspended between memory and boldness.

At the heart of this creation beats an unprecedented calibre, designed and crafted in his workshop at the Solliat. The C30, with its seven-level architecture, unfolds a depth that perfectly follows the case’s distinctive line. it unites the memory of the Vallée de Joux with a vision of tomorrow. Like a mountaineer on a narrow ridge, every gesture is measured, every balance decisive, aimed at a single goal: precision on the wrist.

Three new patents crown this achievement. Each is the fruit of extensive research and testing, and above all, of a clear idea: a mental gesture that constantly deconstructs to rebuild with greater mastery.

The creator’s freedom takes shape in the movement’s freedom: the DC12 MaveriK is born.

In the footsteps of Vallée de Joux watchmaking

The double balance has fascinated watchmakers for centuries. In the 1930s, at the École Technique de la Vallée de Joux, unique calibres were created where two regulators worked in tandem, linked by a differential. Rare pieces, exceptionally precise, yet never industrialized. Decades later, Philippe Dufour reinvented this complication with the Duality, the first wristwatch to integrate two balances connected by a differential. A discreet and masterful creation, it inspired David and echoes the meticulous spirit and precision-driven culture that shaped him.

Gabriel Locatelli, who first crossed his path at Jaeger-LeCoultre when he was just 14, instilled in him rigor and precision: a deep voice, an intense gaze and a guiding hand that engraved in him discipline and high standards. Philippe Dufour, a seminal figure of the Vallée, has always been there as a steady, supportive presence, teaching him patience, the poetry of mechanics and the path to independence.

David’s approach is not about reproducing an old mechanism, but evolving a language. His work is the result of years of reflection, silent testing and accepted doubts – a rare patience. He draws on archives, visits museums and follows in the footsteps of past masters. For him, innovation cannot exist without memory.

Heir to Gabriel Locatelli’s tenacity and nurtured by Philippe Dufour’s silent rigor, David chose a singular path. Their example convinced him to push his pursuit to its fullest. The double balance becomes the vehicle of a living heritage: an architecture in motion, shaped for today. His way of writing, in his own hand, the next chapters of watchmaking history.

DC12 MaveriK: boldness and instinct

MaveriK is the embodiment of a deep freedom, steering David’s thought and his craft. Inspired by the Texan rancher Samuel A. Maverick, who refused to brand his cattle, the name embodies the refusal of constraints and the courage to forge one’s own path, driven by instinct, knowledge and conviction.

The final “K” asserts the uniqueness of this creation: its kinetic energy, angular strength and sharp aesthetic. MaveriK does not follow established rules; it creates new ones, blending ancestral heritage with cutting-edge modernity.

The name DC12 extends this vision, like a new emblem shaped by over 30 years of rigor and expertise. The number 12, a multiple of 6, echoes David’s favorite number: 6, ever-present in his collection, symbolizing the six sides and six angles of the hexagon – creation, life and harmony. Just as the DC1 laid the foundation and the DC6 embodied contemporary mechanical exploration, the DC12 continues this fundamental lineage that structures David Candaux’s creative universe. DC12 thus becomes a reference point, merging scientific precision with instinctive gesture: a free-moving mechanism where relativity and quantum mechanics meet on common ground.

Three patented innovations for precision at its peak

The double balance is one of the most effective – and most complex – solutions to optimize real-world precision. Two balances, functioning independently yet compensating each other, achieve a radical equilibrium in the service of accuracy.

But each escapement requires its own energy. Simultaneous demands can disturb the movement or even cause a stoppage. The classic solution? To move the differential – the system’s keystone – away from the seconds’ train, at the expense of precision.

At the heart of the DC12 MaveriK, David changes the rules: he liberates rather than constrains. He places his foundational invention at the center of the movement: a flying satellite planetary mounted on a hairspring shock absorber. It is not peripheral; it lives at the core of the seconds’ train. This satellite does not command – it accompanies. It absorbs, adjusts and allows two independent balances to dialogue freely, finding a natural equilibrium together. The mechanical differential, positioned at the seconds’ train’s nerve center, calculates in real time the average of their isochronism deviations, ensuring exceptional regularity. A genuine compensating mechanism, the hairspring of the flying satellite channels force with subtlety, delivering a fluid and balanced distribution to each balance. The watch breathes, senses and adapts before it acts.

To ensure this exceptional mechanism remains reliable in daily use, the C30 caliber integrates a secured winding system, covered by a second patent. Winding click and spring work together as a safety system: energy flows in the correct direction, unwanted backflow is blocked, ensuring smooth, robust winding true to artisanal watchmaking.

Finally, the DC12 MaveriK incorporates a third patented system combining winding and timesetting. Thanks to a coaxial, ingeniously inclined control mechanism, the crown engages either the two mainsprings or the time-setting function, independently and compactly. The result: precision, robustness, and fluidity at every interaction.

Every patent, every innovation, every detail converges toward a single goal: allowing the components to interact freely, to absorb, to accompany, and to act fluidly – creating a watch that lives and breathes with its wearer.

Purity, fluidity, modernity: design as a manifesto

With the DC12 MaveriK, David takes a new leap in the expression of his design, achieving nearsurgical precision. Every line carries meaning, every detail reflects a deliberate choice, and the geometry – perfectly curved and balanced – reveals absolute mastery. Ergonomics are total: the “magic crown,” integrated into the case, ensures ultimate comfort, while the fluidity of the case’s curves, with parallel arcs and consistent thickness on both the dial and caseback sides, embraces the wrist with almost organic precision. The top-loading construction is a technical feat, and the lugs, fine, taut and lightweight, extend this dynamic. Even the 39.5 mm diameter is conceived to the millimeter, offering a presence that is balanced yet never heavy.

The dial pushes this pursuit of harmony to its peak, inviting us into an uncharted universe. The opening, though round, curves delicately to follow the case’s form – a tamed ellipse. Its “chip”- shaped, thin, undulating silhouette evokes both the fragility of a leaf and the strength of a confident design. Resting on a nickel silver base, a subtle homage to historical pieces, it comes alive with applied indexes that stand out against an outer white track. Each index, crafted in titanium with a precise angle and length, follows the curvature of the dial to enhance visual harmony. Minute numerals, marked at five-minute intervals, integrate subtly along the periphery. The central hours disc, in white opal and ringed with diamond-polished edges, delivers a contemporary reading. A delicate interplay of colors, materials and textures unfolds, while the hands, flame-blued and finely honed, capture the light in perfect resonance with the minute indexes.

At 12 o’clock, everything converges: the three-dimensional, suspended differential commands attention through its free presence. It completes a 60-second rotation and drives the small seconds with lightness, embodying a movement that breathes, freed from traditional constraints. In counterpoint, at 6 o’clock, “Le Coeur et l’Esprit” (The Heart and Mind), asserts a philosophy: the intimate link between thought, transmission and creation.

Through a wide aperture, the caseback reveals the movement with its two beating hearts, infused with the spirit of the Vallée de Joux and crafted in Grade 5 titanium – a guarantee of lightness, robustness and longevity, in line with all of David Candaux’s creations. Two elongated bridges, stretched like arcs and featuring straight-grained decoration inspired by historical models, cradle the balances with purity, enhanced by a hand-finished central snowgrained bridge asserting its presence with sobriety and precision. Every finish – polished inward angles, brushed flanks – becomes a language of sincere craftsmanship. Finally, the case plays with contrasts, alternating polished and satin surfaces to emphasize the singularity of its lines.

Water-resistant to 50 meters, the DC12 MaveriK unites modernity and the memory of the Vallée de Joux. Case and dial bring to life an intuitive, technical watch sculpted to endure. It breathes the present: radical, familiar, a living signature on the wrist.

In David Candaux’s Tempo

David lives at the crossroads of sport and mechanical precision. His Vallée de Joux, his independence, his vision of time – everything guides each watch he creates.

There was never a plan. Only an obsession: to understand and to do things differently. Every step was a lesson. The École Technique de la Vallée de Joux, Jaeger-LeCoultre, projects for prestigious houses – he honed his craft, sharpened his mind and drew on watchmaking history to reinvent today’s movement. Inventing to solve. Inventing to live up to those who dared before him.

He conceives everything: every component, every finish, every movement. Beauty alone is not enough; a watch must carry an idea – useful, powerful, mechanical.

In 2017, he freed himself and created his brand, the sole artisan of his destiny. Today, 39 patents bear his name. Each is a grip on the cliff face he climbs with bare hands: a summit, a step upward, a total commitment. Always moving forward where nothing yet exists.

As the new emblem of the David Candaux collection, the DC12 MaveriK embodies this energy: for those who choose to fly at their own pace, between sky and mechanics, where the creator’s liberty becomes the movement’s own.

Technical specifications

David Candaux DC12 MaveriK in Titanium

Case

• Material: Satin-brushed and hand-polished titanium
• Asymmetric 6 o'clock to 12 o'clock and symmetric 3 o'clock to 9 o'clock
• Fully curved shape, top and bottom running in parallel
• Diameter: 39.50 mm
• Thickness: 11.70 mm; including sapphire crystals: 11.90 mm
• Crown: “Magic”, Pressure release mechanism
• 3 positions : neutral, time setting, winding
• Embossed engraving of “Bear Head” logo
• Water-resistant to 5 atm - 50 m - 164 ft

Dial and hands

• “Chips”-shaped dial in nickel silver
• Curved round opening integrated into the case shape
• Multi-level construction with central hour disc in white opal, circled by diamond-polished rings
• Black pad-printed Arabic numerals
• Three-dimensional, angled, hand-polished indexes in grey gold
• Sapphire seconds subdial
• Black graduated rim for minutes and secondes
• Tampographed inscription “Le Coeur et l’Esprit”
• Flame-blued stainless steel hour and minute hands, beveled and hand-polished
• Small seconds in flame-blued stainless steel, beveled and hand-polished, integrated into the planetary differential with flying satelllite at 12 o’clock

Movement

• Hand-wound movement with 3 patents
• Double regulator mounted on the seconds’ train • hours and minutes • small second integrated to the flying satellite planetary
• Diameter: 29.50 mm (13 lines)
• Thickness: 6.90 mm
• Number of jewels: 45, semi-gloss ruby jewel set in solid molded gold chatons
• Frequency: 21’600 vph (3Hz)
• Power reserve of 58 hours

Functions/Indications

• Central hours and minutes
• Small second integrated to the flying tourbillon at 12 o’clock

Strap and buckle

• Handmade rubber, with a velcro clasp engraved with the David Candaux logo

MSRP: CHF 98'000 (excl. taxes)

For more information, please visit davidcandaux.com