by Antoine Gerboud

Most modern watchmaking looks for stability by speeding things up. Dominique Renaud decided to do the opposite.

That choice carries particular weight coming from a watchmaker who has already explored the other extreme, experimenting with a 12 Hz oscillator working at an amplitude of just 30 degrees. With the Pulse60, the first creation of his eponymous brand, Dominique Renaud reverses the premise entirely. Its movement runs at just 1 Hz, built around a 20 mm balance wheel and an architecture designed to operate beyond 360 degrees of amplitude.

Seen in person, the effect is immediate. The balance does not disappear into the usual mechanical blur. It moves slowly enough to follow with the eye, exposing the rhythm of the watch and making its regulating organ almost hypnotic to observe.

The Pulse60 therefore asks a more fundamental question: what happens when stability is pursued through inertia, amplitude and control rather than speed?

The Case for 1 Hz

For decades, increasing frequency has been one of watchmaking’s established routes towards greater stability. A faster oscillator receives more impulses over a given period, helping it recover more quickly from small disturbances. The compromise comes through higher energy consumption, friction and wear. Today, 4 Hz remains one of the industry’s most widely adopted solutions.

The Pulse60 explores another philosophy. Its manually wound BUA2024 calibre runs at 1 Hz, or 7,200 vibrations per hour, recalling an older chronometric principle in which large, slow-moving balances relied on inertia to maintain a stable rhythm.

To make that approach viable on the wrist, Dominique Renaud developed a 20 mm balance wheel with particularly high inertia. Once in motion, its size helps it resist smaller variations in torque and external disturbances, while the low frequency reduces the number of interactions between the oscillator and the escapement.

One complete oscillation takes one second. That deliberate rhythm gives the Pulse60 its name and, more importantly, makes each cycle of the regulating organ visible to the eye.

Beyond 360 Degrees

Running such a large balance at 1 Hz creates another challenge: amplitude.

In a conventional Swiss lever escapement, the balance can only travel so far before the geometry of the roller, impulse jewel and pallet fork becomes problematic. Excessive amplitude can lead to overbanking, disturbing the oscillator rather than improving its performance.

Dominique Renaud addressed that limitation by rethinking the relationship between the balance and the escapement. In the BUA2024, the balance is decoupled from the impulse roller through a geared interface. This allows the 20 mm balance to travel beyond 360 degrees while the roller remains within a more conventional angular range. The architecture theoretically permits amplitudes approaching 700 degrees, although the objective is not to chase the largest possible number.

The real advantage lies in giving the oscillator more freedom. With a wider arc of travel, the balance spends a greater proportion of each cycle moving under its own dynamics rather than interacting with the escapement. Each impulse therefore represents a smaller disturbance within the complete oscillation.

This is the principle behind what Dominique Renaud calls Balancier Ultra Amplitude: amplitude not for spectacle, but as a means of bringing the regulating organ closer to the behaviour of an ideal oscillator.

Making the Mechanism Visible

The Pulse60 does not simply contain its regulating organ. It is designed around it.

The 20 mm balance dominates the dial side. To keep that view as unobstructed as possible, Dominique Renaud developed a patented regulation system positioned away from the centre of the balance, leaving its slow, expansive motion fully exposed.

The indications are organised around it. Hours and minutes sit at 12 o’clock. At 9 o’clock, the small seconds advance naturally in two steps per second, a direct consequence of the 1 Hz frequency. At 3 o’clock, a torque indicator reads the force available directly from the barrel rather than simply showing an estimated remaining running time. The manually wound calibre provides four days of power reserve.

What initially appears unconventional becomes surprisingly logical once the movement is understood. Even telling the time can feel secondary to watching the mechanism work.

A Case Without Conventional Lugs

At 40 mm across, 44 mm from end to end and 12 mm thick, the Pulse60 might appear substantial on paper. On the wrist, the impression is quite different.

There are no conventional lugs. The rounded case flows directly into an integrated rubber strap, while the absence of a traditional bezel allows the domed sapphire crystal to become part of the silhouette. The result is a continuous form with few of the visual breaks normally associated with a mechanical watch. 

The Grade 5 titanium version feels particularly light, and even on a smaller wrist the compact 44 mm overall length keeps the watch surprisingly manageable. The other case configuration combines rose gold with Grade 5 titanium, bringing warmth and contrast without changing the underlying architecture.

Of the three launch configurations, the rose gold and titanium version is perhaps the most expressive. Its contrasting materials give additional depth to a design whose character becomes much clearer once the watch is actually on the wrist.

Price & Availability

The Grade 5 titanium Pulse60 is available with either a grey or black opaline dial, while the rose gold and titanium version introduces a more textured interpretation of traditional guilloché.

The titanium models are priced at CHF 49,000 excluding taxes, while the rose gold and titanium version is CHF 59,000 excluding taxes. The Pulse60 is available through authorised retailers, including Perpétuel Gallery.

The Pulse60 is compelling because it questions one of contemporary watchmaking’s most established assumptions. By choosing 1 Hz, a 20 mm balance and an ultra-amplitude architecture, Dominique Renaud is not looking backwards. He is taking a historical chronometric principle and using it as the starting point for something distinctly contemporary.

Progress in mechanical watchmaking does not always have to mean going faster. Sometimes, it begins by choosing a different direction.

About Dominique Renaud

Dominique Renaud has spent much of his career questioning how mechanical watches can be constructed.

In 1986, he co-founded Renaud & Papi with Giulio Papi, establishing an independent movement specialist that would develop complex mechanisms and complications for some of watchmaking’s most important names before becoming Audemars Piguet Renaud & Papi. The company also became an influential environment for a generation of watchmakers who would later shape contemporary independent horology. 

After decades working largely behind the movements of others, Renaud returned to more personal experimentation, eventually establishing Haute Horlogerie Dominique Renaud in Tolochenaz and launching his eponymous brand in 2026.

The Pulse60 is its first creation. It feels less like a retrospective on everything Dominique Renaud has already achieved than a statement about what he still believes mechanical watchmaking can become.

"I may be a little biased in this case, as I truly appreciate all the works coming from Dominique Renaud and the broader Renaud Tixier universe. Yet the Pulse60 carries a charm entirely of its own. It is a watch that does not simply introduce a new movement, but presents a completely different rhythm of time, Master Dominique always impresses the industry with his innovations & that’s what we all love about this extraordinary person."