Renaud Tixier arrived with unusual weight behind it for a young independent name.
Founded in 2023 by Dominique Renaud, co-founder of Renaud & Papi, and young watchmaker Julien Tixier, the brand made its debut in 2024 with the Monday, a time-only automatic watch built around a distinctive micro-rotor winding system.
The latest Monday Skeleton removes the dial and opens the remaining architecture, turning what was already a technical statement into a more explicit display of construction and finishing.
At a glance
- Renaud Tixier has introduced a skeletonised version of its Monday micro-rotor watch.
- The watch exposes the movement architecture, including an auxiliary winding system built around a platinum micro-rotor, inertia flywheel and propulsion spring.
- The Monday Skeleton is limited to 15 pieces in green and 15 pieces in blue.
A young independent name with serious watchmaking roots
The Monday Skeleton matters because it isn’t simply an openworked version of a conventional calibre.
Its foundation is the RVI2025 automatic movement, a time-only calibre with hours, minutes and small seconds, but the interest sits in how the movement uses wrist motion.
Dominique Renaud’s career gives the project a particular context, since Renaud & Papi became closely associated with complex independent and high-end watchmaking.
Pairing that experience with Julien Tixier gives the brand a two-generation character, and the Monday Skeleton feels designed to make that proposition visible from the dial side as well as the back.
The micro-rotor system is the real story
Micro-rotors are attractive because they allow an automatic movement to stay relatively compact while leaving more of the calibre visible.
The trade-off is inertia, since a smaller rotor naturally has less mass in motion than a full-size oscillating weight.
That matters during the kind of low-energy wrist movement that happens at a desk, where small gestures and quick changes of direction can rob the rotor of momentum before enough energy reaches the mainspring.
Renaud Tixier’s solution is an auxiliary winding mechanism designed to collect some of that otherwise wasted motion.
The system places an inertia flywheel inside the micro-rotor and links it to a propulsion spring nicknamed the “dancer”.
Both the flywheel and the micro-rotor are made of platinum, and the interaction between those parts loads the spring before the stored energy is released back into the movement to help wind the mainspring.
Skeletonisation with finishing in focus
The original Monday already hinted at a more architectural approach through its caseback, where the movement uses a series of steel bridges rather than leaning on a conventional full base plate.
The Monday Skeleton carries that idea through the whole watch by opening the remaining plate and removing the dial.
The result is a front-to-back view of bridges, curves, straight lines and negative space, with the calibre becoming the visual identity of the watch.
Renaud Tixier counts 238 interior angles across the movement, a detail that gives a useful sense of just how much finishing work is being put on display.
The broader bevels are especially important here, since the interior angles include both flowing curves and sharp points.
The brand carries out its finishing in-house, which adds weight to the decision to skeletonise the watch so extensively.
Colour, engraving and edition size
The case is 18k white gold and measures 40.8 mm across and 12.6 mm thick.
Its caseband is hand-engraved with an irregular pattern that recalls hammered metal, adding texture around the edge without competing with the movement architecture.
Renaud Tixier also uses colour selectively, with the ratchet wheel cover finished in enamel to match either the blue or green dial treatment.
Each version is paired with a matching alligator leather strap and a white gold pin buckle.
Details & Specifications
| Brand | Renaud Tixier |
|---|---|
| Model | Monday Skeleton |
| Reference | RVI2025 |
| Case size | 40.8 mm x 12.6 mm |
| Case material | 18k white gold |
| Movement | RVI2025 automatic |
| Functions | Hours, minutes and small seconds |
| Frequency | 18,000 vibrations per hour, 2.5 Hz |
| Power reserve | 72 hours |
| Water resistance | 30 metres |
| Strap | Blue or green alligator leather with white gold pin buckle |
| Limited edition | 15 pieces in green and 15 pieces in blue |
The Monday Skeleton is the sort of watch that will speak most clearly to collectors who care about movement architecture, hand-finishing and mechanical problem-solving more than overt complication.
It takes a restrained time-only concept and turns it into a full view of how a young independent brand wants to define itself.
