X-Ray Specs: A Roundup of Recent Skeletonized Watches

“Elegance is refusal.” The legendary Diana Vreeland – one of the most influential tastemakers of the 20th century – repeated this axiom throughout her career, first as the editor of Vogue, then Harper’s Bazaar, and later as the driving force behind the Met Gala. “I don’t know who it’s a quote from,” she wrote in her 1980 biography Allure. “[Yet] I’ve known it all my life.”

With their slim silhouettes and multi-level inner workings, Hermès, Daniel Roth, H. Moser & Cie., and Gerald Charles are adapting this less-is-more philosophy to elevate their newest skeletonized watches, as all project an unmistakable aura of elegance by stripping away dials and decoration to illuminate the mysterious workings beneath.

Let’s take a look.

With an earlier iteration of the Slim d’Hermès Squelette Lune, Hermès combined a 39.5mm bead-blasted Grade 5 titanium case with a polished platinum bezel. What’s novel about these new editions, featuring the same case size, is that they’re available in either full-on Grade 5 titanium or a much denser polished platinum option.
 

The lightweight titanium edition features DLC treated anthracite bezel. A pale green finish with a sunburst pattern has been applied to the main plate bridges to enhance the play of light. Meanwhile, the case of the platinum version is more polished, but platinum is inherently less shiny than steel or white gold and should take on natural, deep white-grey patina over time.
 

The softness of the materials also lets the wearer appreciate the shadows and reflections of the exposed 3.57mm-thick H1953 calibre mechanism. Meanwhile, the moonphase display is equally unique, displaying the lunar cycle in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Flip it around, and you can admire the bridges and other mechanical elements that hold this firmament together.
 

To showcase Hermès’ leather-crafting heritage, each Slim d’Hermès Squelette Lune comes on an alligator strap matched to its dial, with the Grade 5 titanium model on a matte gris étains alligator strap and the full-platinum version on a matte bleu abysse alligator strap.

The Slim d’Hermès Squelette Lune in Grade 5 titanium is priced at $25,500, while the Slim d’Hermès Squelette Lune in platinum is priced at $42,450. For more information, check out the Hermès website.

The third watch from La Fabrique Du Temps’ revival of the Daniel Roth, the recently unveiled Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton is an openworked wonder. And this edition aims to showcase its watchmaking expertise with this fully transparent version of its time-only Extra Plat.
 

And in the spirit of transparency, there are no secrets here. Yes, the Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton preserves the shape and proportions of the original, but it also reveals the inner beauty of a brand-spanking-new, manually wound calibre, the DR002SR. What further sets its hand-finished movement apart is the fact that the main plate and bridges are made of 18K rose gold.
 

All of this mechanical elegance is packed into a compact (38.6mm by 35.5mm) double ellipse-shaped case crafted from polished 18K rose gold. And because it’s time-only, the dial (or lack thereof) offers” no distractions – just hours and minutes hands, in blued steel, with no indexes, tracks, or markers. It comes set on a soft beige calfskin strap, closed by a gold pin buckle.
 

The Daniel Roth Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton is part of the brand’s permanent collection but will be produced in limited quantities and priced at CHF 85,000. For more information, check out the Daniel Roth website.

We’ve come to expect stunning dials from H. Moser (think of 2022’s Streamliner Chronograph “Blacker Than Black" made with Vantablack or the Burmese jade and Peruvian pink opal combo on last year’s Endeavour Small Seconds Concept Pop). So, what happens when a brand renowned for its exquisite dials does away with the dial entirely?

The answer is the H. Moser Endeavour Tourbillon Skeleton. This dressy time represents the first time the Endeavour collection has featured a fully open-worked design.
 

And while the tourbillon is a showy complication, the display is really quite simple: Most of the components of the skeletonized HMC 814, self-winding calibre are finished in an anthracite grey, which allows the rose gold of the handset and applied indices to stand out against the one-minute tourbillon at 6 o’clock with its paired double hairsprings.
 

Moreover, the Endeavour’s signature leaf-shaped hour and minute hands are finished in rose gold, helping the display’s visual design flow more effortlessly into the 40mm rose gold case.

This is minimalist maximalism done in a way that only Moser could pull off. To make it even more elegant, it comes on a hand-stitched dark brown alligator nubuck leather strap with a 5N red gold pin buckle.
 

The new Endeavour Tourbillon Skeleton is available now and is priced at CHF 79,000. For more information, check out the H. Moser & Cie. website.

A sporty skeleton can also look elevated. For example, Gerald Charles’ new Maestro 8.0 GC Sport Squelette (based on the Maestro 2.0 Ultra-Thin) has a very contemporary look and is slimmed down to 8.35mm to enhance the watch's ergonomics and elegance. The look is further refined by the rhodium-plated, vertically brushed cutaway face bridge. Other bridges feature sandblasted with diamond cut details and polished anglage.
 

Color also plays an important role in creating this Maestro’s visual symphony. The 39mm case is made of light grey sandblasted Grade 5 titanium. The dial side’s decalque and minute-track are tinted in Pantone Blue 534C. The Royal Blue vulcanized strap has a Clou de Paris texture on one side and the brand’s tapisserie on the other.

We probably should have mentioned this earlier, but the most alluring thing about all of these Skeletonized watches is that they can be appreciated from front to back and through and through. The Maestro has an especially expansive sapphire case back that provides a window into the soul of its GCA 5482 calibre.
 

The Maestro 8.0 GC Sport Squelette is now available for pre-order. For more information, check out the Gerald Charles website.