Why the new DecaFlux is a continuation of an idea, and why I believe the next chapter of mechanical watchmaking will be shaped by technology.

When we launched the DecaFlux in March 2025, I never viewed it as a finished product. In fact, I don't think any serious engineering project is ever truly finished. Every product we make is continuously reviewed, questioned, refined and improved. Sometimes those improvements are visible. Most often they are not. A manufacturing process is adjusted, a tolerance tightened, a component optimized or a production method refined. The majority of innovation in engineering happens quietly.

The new DecaFlux PR and DecaFlux Date are part of that ongoing process.

It is important, however, to understand what these watches are and what they are not. They are not replacements for the original DecaFlux. Nothing about the original watch has become less relevant. Its movement architecture remains exactly as compelling today as it was when we introduced it. Its anti-magnetic properties have not diminished. Neither has its efficiency. The new models simply continue the story.

The PR adds a discreet power reserve indication on the movement side, visible through the display back without disturbing the symmetry of the dial. The Date introduces an additional complication that many customers requested, while sharing the same technical foundation. Like any worthwhile sequel, these watches attempt to build upon a solid concept rather than rewrite the original story.

That story can still be summarized by two numbers: more than 100 hours of power reserve and resistance to magnetic fields far beyond what most mechanical watches will ever encounter. The significance of those numbers became particularly clear to me through conversations with one of our customers, Professor Dr. Nicholas Bloch.

A Doctor, an MRI Scanner and a Mechanical Watch

Nicholas is a physician and cancer imaging specialist based in New York. Unlike most of us, he spends his professional life around MRI systems, machines capable of generating magnetic fields approaching 30,000 Gauss. Most people encounter an MRI scanner as a patient. For Nicholas it is simply part of his working environment.

Our conversations began, as many good conversations do, with curiosity. As a scientist, doctor and watch enthusiast, he wanted to understand where the practical limits of modern silicon-based watchmaking really are. There is a significant difference between reading a specification sheet and understanding how a watch behaves under genuinely extreme conditions. The more we discussed the topic, the more the conversation shifted away from watches and towards a broader question: what modern mechanical watchmaking is actually capable of achieving when engineering is allowed to lead.

Eventually curiosity got the better of all of us.

A DecaFlux found its way into an MRI environment approaching 30,000 Gauss. The watch stopped. Once removed from the magnetic field, it immediately resumed operation. No permanent damage, no servicing required, no drama.

I am not sharing this story because I encourage anyone to test their watch inside an MRI scanner. Quite the contrary. What fascinated me was not the experiment itself, but what it revealed about modern movement design. If a mechanical watch can survive conditions of this magnitude, why should we limit our ambitions elsewhere?

Why Performance Still Matters

From time to time one hears the argument that performance no longer matters in mechanical watchmaking. Accuracy no longer matters because everybody carries a smartphone. Extended power reserves no longer matter because watches can simply be rewound. Anti-magnetic performance no longer matters because most people never work around MRI equipment.

I have never agreed with that view.

Not because anyone truly needs a mechanical watch in 2026. That discussion was settled decades ago. The much more interesting question is why people continue to love them.

I believe the answer lies in our fascination with excellence.

Nobody needs a Formula One car. Nobody needs a Stradivarius violin. Nobody needs a mechanical watch capable of running for more than four days. Yet we remain fascinated by such achievements because they represent mastery of a craft.

For that reason I find it difficult to accept the notion that accuracy has become irrelevant. A mechanical watch is fundamentally a machine built to measure the passage of time. Why would we not want it to measure time as accurately as possible?

Accuracy is not merely a functional objective. It is an expression of discipline. It reveals how seriously a watchmaker approaches his craft. When a company invests years into improving chronometric performance, it is not really pursuing a number. It is demonstrating a mindset. The same mindset has driven our work on technologies such as MicroReg and many of the developments that will follow in the coming years.

I firmly believe that the next decade will bring some of the most significant advances in mechanical timekeeping seen for generations. Not because customers suddenly require greater precision, but because the pursuit of precision remains one of the purest expressions of watchmaking excellence.

At the same time, technology should never be seen as the enemy of tradition. I have never believed that engineering and storytelling are opposing forces. The stories matter. Heritage matters. Design matters. Emotion matters. But engineering matters just as much. Without innovation, watchmaking risks becoming repetition. Without stories, innovation risks becoming sterile. The future belongs to those who manage to preserve both.

The Long Road to Silicon

This brings me back to silicon.

Today it is discussed throughout the industry, but when we committed ourselves to silicon technology the situation looked very different. The challenge was never understanding its advantages. The challenge was access.

For many years some of the most important silicon technologies in Swiss watchmaking sat behind substantial patent barriers. Large industrial groups had invested enormous resources into developing them and naturally protected those investments. Smaller manufacturers faced a choice. Accept permanent dependence or prepare for the day those barriers eventually came down.

We chose preparation.

For years we invested in knowledge, development capability, movement architecture and manufacturing know-how while waiting for that future to arrive. At times this felt like an uphill battle. We knew silicon would eventually become an important part of modern watchmaking, but participating in that future required patience and conviction long before it became fashionable.

Looking back, it was one of the most important decisions we ever made as a company.

When broader access finally became possible, we were ready.

What I find particularly interesting today is that many of the industry's most respected engineering-led companies have ultimately arrived at similar conclusions. I have never hidden my admiration for Rolex. In fact, the original DecaFlux was born partly from a prediction we made about where Rolex would eventually go next.

Back in 2025, when we launched the first DecaFlux, we expected Rolex to re-enter the anti-magnetic conversation more aggressively. At the time we believed this might happen through a modern interpretation of the Milgauss. We turned out to be wrong about the name, but surprisingly accurate about the direction. What eventually emerged was the Land-Dweller and, more importantly, a movement architecture that further reinforced the industry's shift towards highly optimized silicon-based solutions.

My admiration for Rolex, however, has never been based on exclusivity, scarcity or status. Those aspects of the luxury industry have never been particularly interesting to me personally, nor are they what motivate us at Horage. What I admire is something much more fundamental: the discipline of their engineering process, the quality of their manufacturing organization and their ability to think in decades rather than product cycles.

The products themselves are ultimately the result of that process. Good engineering organizations tend to arrive at good technical solutions, and Rolex remains one of the finest examples of that principle operating at industrial scale. The Land-Dweller was therefore interesting not because it validated anything we were already doing at Horage, but because it demonstrated that even the largest and most influential company in our industry continues to believe that movement architecture, efficiency and advanced materials matter.

In many ways that is encouraging. It suggests that despite all the marketing, storytelling and heritage narratives that surround modern watchmaking, the underlying technology still matters. The laws of physics remain unchanged. Whether a company produces one thousand watches or one million, the challenges remain the same: improve efficiency, improve precision, improve durability and improve resistance to external influences. Those challenges do not care about brand positioning. They simply require good engineering.

Designing for Reality

The K3 calibre inside the DecaFlux reflects exactly that philosophy.

Its specifications appear relatively simple on paper: a single barrel, a frequency of 3.5 Hertz, a full Si² escapement and more than 100 hours of power reserve. Yet what matters is not any individual specification but how they work together.

Interestingly, the K3 is far from the thinnest movement we have ever developed. We have built significantly thinner calibres. The decision to make the K3 4.2 millimetres high was not the result of a technical limitation. It was a deliberate engineering choice.

In watchmaking there is often a temptation to chase records. Thinness becomes a goal in itself. Yet every tenth of a millimetre removed creates consequences elsewhere. Components become more difficult to manufacture consistently. Tolerances become more demanding. Assembly becomes more complicated. Robustness can suffer.

The K3 was designed differently. Its dimensions provide sufficient architecture to ensure reliable manufacturing, efficient assembly and long-term durability while maintaining a realistic price point. Delivering a full silicon escapement, Swiss manufacturing and more than one hundred hours of autonomy is only possible when every design decision remains grounded in practical engineering realities.

Good engineering is rarely about maximizing a single specification. It is about balancing performance, durability, manufacturability and cost to achieve the most intelligent overall result.

That philosophy is largely responsible for the first of our two numbers. More than 100 hours of power reserve from a movement just 4.2 millimetres high, operating at 3.5 Hertz from a single mainspring barrel. In our internal testing we often see figures closer to 106 hours, but our watchmakers remain characteristically conservative and continue to communicate 100+ hours publicly.

A very Swiss solution.

Why DecaFlux Matters

There is one final reason why the DecaFlux occupies such an important place within our collection.

As Horage became known for tourbillons, micro-rotors and increasingly sophisticated movement development, our average selling price inevitably increased. This is simply the reality of developing ambitious mechanical watchmaking in Switzerland.

Yet I have never wanted Horage to become a company whose products are accessible only to a very small group of collectors.

The DecaFlux allows us to bring the same engineering philosophy to a much broader audience.

CHF 3,500 remains a significant amount of money. I would never pretend otherwise. For many people it requires saving, planning and commitment. But it remains achievable. It remains a watch that an engineer, doctor, entrepreneur, student or committed enthusiast can realistically aspire to own.

That matters.

Because I do not believe advanced watchmaking should belong exclusively to those with unlimited resources. The same technology, the same engineering mindset and the same pursuit of excellence that drive our tourbillons should also find their way into watches that a much larger community can experience and enjoy.

For me, that idea is every bit as important as the technology itself.

The Next Chapter

The DecaFlux PR and DecaFlux Date are therefore more than two new references. They are a continuation of an idea that began in 2025.

The belief that mechanical watches can continue to improve.

The belief that accuracy remains relevant.

The belief that engineering and storytelling strengthen one another rather than compete.

And the belief that advanced technology should eventually become accessible to far more people than those at the highest end of the market.

The latest DecaFlux models simply add the next chapter.

The numbers remain the same.

100+ hours.

30,000 Gauss.

And in my view, they remain a compelling indication of where mechanical watchmaking is heading next.