ominique Renaud is the legendary designer behind dozens of prestigious complications created for illustrious maisons. He was a pioneering movement specialist who developed complications for major houses. He became a key figure in the industry through the mythical Renaud Papi manufacture, later sold to Audemars Piguet.

At the heart of the Pulse60 is a completely new movement, the Dominique Renaud BUA2024 — for Balancier Ultra Amplitude with a development that started in 2024. “By exploring the extreme regimes of watchmaking, I sought to show that it is possible to move beyond standards, and even rethink the balance-escapement interaction,” said Dominique Renaud.

The watchmaker is known for having pushed the limits of the regulating organ, notably with a very high-frequency, low-amplitude balance: 12 Hz for just 30 degrees, whereas the industry average lies between 2.5 Hz and 5 Hz. This radical approach already illustrated his spirit as an explorer and inventor. That experience forms the basis of Dominique Renaud’s current reflection: understanding through practice what frequency truly changes in the behavior of a movement.

Rather than continuing to explore high frequency, he became interested in the benefits of the lowest one possible in contemporary mechanical watchmaking: 1 Hz. Here, the balance oscillates only once per second—60 beats per minute, equivalent to the resting frequency of a human heart. Where high frequency sought precision through multiplying events, low frequency seeks accuracy through mastering rhythm.

By bringing watchmaking frequency back to that of living beings, Dominique Renaud goes beyond a technical choice: he reconnects watchmaking with our humanity, introducing a notion of time that is embodied rather than abstract.

This bold low-frequency approach drastically reduces the number of impulses and shocks in the escapement over a given period, thereby limiting the disturbances that pollute the natural motion of the balance. The second becomes a structuring unit of time, paced by the balance’s single to-and-fro motion, around which the entire movement is organized.

To fully harness this low frequency, the movement relies on a very large 20 mm balance wheel with high inertia, in the spirit of the massive balances found in marine chronometers. Once in motion, this balance tends to maintain its movement and resists variations in torque or minor shocks far better. Its significant moment of inertia acts as a mechanical “buffer”: small disturbances represent only a tiny fraction of the total energy stored in the oscillation, so their influence on the rate becomes negligible.

This balance can be compared to a tightrope walker crossing a wire: the longer the pole, the more stable the center of gravity becomes and the less the disturbances throw it off balance. With a short pole, each disturbance would have a much greater impact and would force the balance to correct its position constantly. This large balance acts like a long mechanical pole, stabilizing the rate over the second: it absorbs small variations, smooths out irregularities, and turns each tick-tock into a slow, broad, controlled beat.

In most conventional movements, the geometry of the balance, roller and impulse pin imposes a strict amplitude limit; beyond a certain angle, “knocking” occurs, when the balance swings too far and strikes the back of the pallet fork, causing the watch to gain time.

Dominique Renaud has therefore completely rethought the construction of this ensemble so as to allow amplitude greater than 360° without knocking, whereas a traditional coaxial architecture is mechanically constrained well below that threshold. This newfound freedom in the design of the regulating organ opens an amplitude range previously unexploited in a wristwatch.

This can be illustrated by the metaphor of an engine. A traditional movement functions like a limited engine whose normal operating range already lies close to the red zone: at the slightest increase in load, the engine hits its limiter - the watchmaking equivalent of knocking.

With a theoretical maximum amplitude of around 700 degrees, the Pulse60 functions like a better-protected engine whose operating range lies far from the redline. Even when available energy is at its maximum or in the event of disturbances, the amplitude remains within a safe zone, thereby protecting rate regularity.

This large amplitude is not merely a geometric feat; it directly affects the way the balance is regulated. By increasing the freedom of the oscillation, the balance remains free for longer and over a greater distance before and after the impulse. Within this expanded interval, its motion is governed more by its own dynamic laws than by interactions with the escapement. The relative influence of each impulse therefore decreases, helping to make the rate more stable and less sensitive to micro-variations.

As a result, the number of disturbances experienced by the balance is reduced to a minimum. The resulting static rate stability is remarkable, with each position benefiting from more controlled behavior. This stability makes it possible to optimize the simulated average rate by having a better positional stability of the watch.

The Pulse60 had to make such innovations visually crystal clear, and pay tribute to this mechanical exploration. The case is inspired by a search for continuity and the absence of edges: a domed crystal, the disappearance of the bezel and the absence of lugs all facilitate a borderless integration with the strap. Its construction is composed of three parts, with a central container and sections integrated into each side of the strap, once again underscoring true mechanical ingenuity.

At launch, the watch comes in two versions and three colourways: titanium, or a bi-material pink gold and titanium version. The grey or black dials of the titanium version feature a opaline base with diamond-cut openings, while the bi-material version presents a guilloché dial that interprets a traditional technique in a modern way. The case features a circular satin-brushed top evoking pieces from the 1970s, a period dear to Dominique Renaud, as well as polished flanks that create a sharply contrasting profile.

The integrated strap, developed specifically for the Pulse60, is secured by an interchangeable system that is both invisible and easy to use.

The Pulse60 display includes an hour/minute dial at 12 o’clock, a seconds counter at 9 o’clock with a natural dead half-second made possible by the 1 Hz frequency, which corresponds to one to-and-fro motion of the balance per second. A unique feature is the patented regulating system that has been positioned outside of the the balance wheel and which makes it possible to admire the spectacle of this large low-frequency balance wheel in an unobstructed way.

The Pulse60 display also includes a torque indicator at 3 o’clock, which takes information on the remaining power directly from the barrel, a system Dominique Renaud had already worked on during the Renaud Papi era.

Finally, the open back of the Pulse60 presents a streamlined arrangement of elements using simple forms: circle, half-circle and straight lines. In the upper part, the crown wheel and ratchet; in the lower part, an openworked escapement line highlights the particular architecture and an offset double roller system.

The Pulse60 will be available from April 2026 through all authorized retailers, priced at CHF 49,000 excluding taxes in Titanium and CHF 59,000 excluding taxes in Pink Gold and Titanium.

HHDR, a maker of ideas and objects

Dominique Renaud has surrounded himself with an ecosystem to bring his creations to life. This is how Haute Horlogerie Dominique Renaud (HHDR) came into being, both a place of creation and a multidisciplinary constellation of talents.

HHDR is a living laboratory, an incubator where vision takes shape collectively. It is first and foremost a place of convergence before being an integrated manufacturing chain. At HHDR, expertise, trajectories and ideas meet.

By integrating profiles from diverse backgrounds, HHDR deliberately broadens the traditional framework of watchmaking and thus becomes a maker of ideas as much as of objects, rooted in Swiss mechanical tradition yet oriented toward contemporary technologies and uses.

HHDR’s purpose is to set a collective dynamic back in motion - that of watchmaking genius. “We needed a very special place to accommodate the research, experimentation and long-term approach characteristic of our disruptive watchmaking,” said Dominique Renaud.

HHDR therefore established itself in Tolochenaz, at the heart of the Swiss watchmaking arc, to serve as the epicenter of its watchmaking ambition. This place embodies Dominique Renaud’s approach: an architecture that encourages the circulation of ideas while remaining closely connected to nature.

Today, nearly twenty people - watchmakers, designers, engineers and experts - collaborate and explore new forms of watchmaking here with rigor, coherence and freedom. This is where creations inspired by Dominique Renaud’s creative paradigm will come to life. Various explorations are conducted here in parallel, each driven by the single mantra of reconfiguring contemporary watchmaking.

Renaud Tixier was the first concrete expression of the method championed by HHDR. Led by Dominique Renaud and developed with the young watchmaker Julien Tixier, this collaboration gave birth in 2024 to the Monday, the founding watch and manifesto piece of this brand.

“Monday was born from a desire to re-examine the archetypes of traditional watchmaking.” (DR) It embodies the conviction that innovation is born from dialogue between generations, between intuition and rigor, between experience and a fresh perspective.

Monday is part of the continuity of a companionship already initiated between Dominique Renaud and Julien Tixier, notably through projects such as Tempus Fugit (2022) or the secular calendar watch created for Furlan Marri (2023). Monday thus concentrates the DNA of Renaud Tixier: a watchmaking of fertile tension, between tradition and invention, transmission and renewal.

HHDR is part of DR Group, a new virtuous ecosystem introducing different approaches to the world of haute horlogerie. DR Group is an entity that was initially built around Dominique Renaud. Dominique Renaud, an essential figure in contemporary watchmaking, conveys a singular vision of watchmaking genius, guided by intuition, curiosity and a creative freedom unbound by norms. DR Group was initially formed to provide Dominique Renaud with a springboard to express his watchmaking ideas.

Within the dynamic driven by DR Group now stand the watch brands Renaud Tixier and Dominique Renaud, as well as a minority stake in Niton, a brand relaunched in February 2026 and already shaping up to be a success.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Case

• Grade 5 Titanium / Pink Gold and Grade 5 Titanium
• Dimensions: 40 mm x 44 mm
• Thickness: 12 mm (with sapphire crystal)
• Domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment
• Caseback: flat sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment
• Water resistance: 3 ATM / 30 m

Functions

• Hours and minutes on the 12 o’clock counter
• Natural dead half-second on the 9 o’clock counter
• Torque indicator on the 3 o’clock counter

Movement

• Diameter: 33 mm
• Balance frequency: 1 Hz / 7,200 vibrations per hour
• Balance diameter: 20 mm
• Hairspring diameter: 15 mm
• Regulation system with offset index assembly (patented technology)
• Power reserve: 4 days

Strap

• Interchangeable rubber strap with push-button system
• Delivered with a pin buckle and a triple-folding clasp.