Innovation On Display: Renaud Tixier Introduces The Monday Skeleton
Renaud Tixier continues its Monday collection with the new Monday Skeleton, a fully openworked version of the watch that launched the young maison in 2024. Available in green and blue, the two editions each have a 40.8mm gray gold case and are limited to 15 pieces. The new model brings together Dominique Renaud’s expertise in movement design and skeletonization with Julien Tixier’s meticulous approach to manual finishing.
First announced two years ago, the Renaud Tixier Monday set out to revolutionize the micro-rotor movement. Since its debut, we’ve seen a handful of iterations, primarily focused on dial design. The Monday Skeleton retains the original watch’s distinctive automatic winding system while giving the movement a new visual identity. Its RVI2025 caliber exposes all 262 components, including the patented mechanism that improves the efficiency of its micro-rotor winding system. It simultaneously showcases the level of hand finishing that defines this independent watch brand’s work.
A new chapter for the Monday
Dominique Renaud brings more than four decades of watchmaking experience to the partnership. Early in his career, he developed his expertise in skeletonization while working in a workshop dedicated to openworked watches. Julien Tixier, meanwhile, specializes in prototyping and traditional finishing techniques, including hand beveling, black polishing on titanium, and creating inward angles.
The Monday Skeleton brings these two skill sets together. The original RVI2023 caliber (pictured above) already featured an architecture that hinted at the potential for even more openworking. With the new RVI2025, the team has taken that idea further. Renaud Tixier has reshaped the movement to reveal its mechanical structure without forgoing the defining, incredibly complex, mechanically enhanced micro-rotor winding system.
The RVI2025 movement and its 238 inward angles
The new RVI2025 caliber contains 262 components, all finished and decorated by hand at Renaud Tixier’s workshops in Tolochenaz, Switzerland. Traditional techniques include Côtes de Genève, sunray finishing, circular graining, bridge rounding, beveling, and black polishing. The movement also features 238 inward angles, each finished by hand. These details make the Monday Skeleton a showcase for the meticulous work that could easily go unnoticed in a more conventional movement.
The openworked architecture also further reveals the patented winding system at the heart of the watch. The automatic caliber uses a platinum micro-rotor with a flywheel and propulsion spring positioned beneath it.
Renaud Tixier calls this component the “dancer.” It captures energy from even small wrist movements and converts it into energy for the movement’s power reserve. Inspired by energy-recovery systems in the automotive industry, the mechanism aims to improve winding efficiency. It also includes a declutching system designed to protect the movement from shocks.
The movement measures 36.8 mm in diameter and 6.83 mm thick. It beats at 18,000 vibrations per hour and provides at least 72 hours of power reserve. Alongside the central hours and minutes, it displays the seconds on a dedicated sub-dial. A decorative bridge over the barrel ratchet adds another point of interest on the back, with hand engraving and grand feu enamel that match each edition’s color scheme.
Green or blue, in gray gold
Renaud Tixier houses the Monday Skeleton in a 40.8mm case made from 18K gray gold. The case has a 12.6mm profile and features hand engraving along the flanks and between the lugs. Water resistance is rated at 30 meters.
The two editions share the same layout, with color providing the main distinction. The blue version features a small-seconds counter in petrol blue with a matching rehaut, while the green model uses the same details in green. Both have skeletonized dauphine hour and minute hands with polished and satin-finished surfaces. Around the dial, faceted and applied indexes sit on the lower level of the rehaut, while a white minute track runs along the upper level.
Each watch comes on a 21mm hand-stitched full-grain alligator strap that matches its dial accents. An 18K white gold pin buckle completes the package.
Initial impressions
The Monday Skeleton gives Renaud Tixier’s debut watch its first movement update. The skeletonized caliber makes the unique winding system easier to appreciate, and the hand-finished details give the movement plenty to explore beyond its headline complication. The two colorways, green and petrol blue, bring flavor to the exposed mechanics without detracting attention from the mechanics on display.
With just 15 examples of each, the Monday Skeleton remains a rare proposition, and a price of CHF 129,000 (ex. VAT) puts it in line with the brand’s previous releases. These two new variants represent yet another step forward for a young independent maker that has already built an identity around mechanical innovation and traditional finishing.
