DONE Watches | Neuchâtel, Switzerland | Since 2016
Understand the mechanics. Then reveal them.
The Approach
There are objects that change the way we see.
For Thierry Clottu, it was a chronograph he received at twenty, with an open caseback revealing its mechanism, and suddenly the realization that behind the time one reads, there is an entire world at work.
Bridges of bewildering finesse, gears interlocking with a precision unmatched by anything else. A living, silent, absolutely fascinating mechanism.
It is this fascination, not luxury or prestige, but mechanics in its purest form, that is at the origin of DONE.
The desire to design timepieces where this emotion is not hidden behind a dial, but placed exactly where it deserves to be: at the center of everything.
The founder
Two decades in the business before the first signed DONE dial
An engineering degree in microtechnology, specializing in watchmaking construction, followed by years spent developing products for houses like Perrelet, TAG Heuer, and L.Leroy, French Haute Horlogerie.
It's where you learn what lasts over time and what fails. You develop an eye for proportions, finishes, and tolerances. You understand what "quality" truly means.
It is this perspective that structures every DONE project.
L'EXIGENCE
Clearly Mechanical
The movement must be visible, legible, and built so the eye understands before the mind analyses.
Open casebacks, redesigned bridges, skeletons conceived with rigour: nothing gratuitous, everything meaningful.
The ritual
Deeply Human
Because a mechanical watch must be wound, it creates a bond. Giving energy to what will accompany you throughout the day is a gesture that belongs to the one who makes it. Every DONE timepiece becomes, over time, deeply personal.
DONE was not born of calculation
In 2015, at a pivotal moment in his life, Thierry Clottu felt the urgent need to create something entirely his own, to see a project through from start to finish, without compromises imposed by a structure, without validation at every step. When it came time to give this project an identity, a question asked one evening crystallized everything: what do you really want to say with this watch?
The answer came without hesitation. Because when an idea presents itself with such clarity, when it is driven by an energy that simply yearns to be unleashed, there are no longer any real questions to ask.
We go for it. We do it.
A year of work, a Kickstarter campaign that resonated far beyond Neuchâtel, and in 2016 the brand came to life. A contraction between this desire to act, DO, and Neuchâtel, NE.
The place and the state of mind brought together in four letters:
DONE
Every collection is the answer to a question raised by the previous one
MECHANICA CLASSIC
She laid the foundations: a hand-wound caliber, a timeless design, proof that it was feasible. It is no longer in the catalog but it remains the origin of everything that followed.
MECHANICA SKELETON
Skeletons B01, B02, and B03 stemmed from an obsession to reveal more without ever sacrificing readability, to skeletonize with rigor rather than excess.
40mm and 35mm Automatic Collections
Born from the feedback of those who wear the watches, because a watch that doesn't fit on the wrist will never be worn. Dozens of iterations on the proportions for a result that ultimately seems obvious, which is often a sign that you've hit the mark.
Automatic Skeleton 40mm and 35mm
The 35mm and 40mm automatic skeletons were born out of an obvious need: to offer a glimpse into the everyday mechanics, without compromising on elegance.
Two sizes, the same perfect balance between transparency and legibility.
NINE IN TEN
The ninth project for the brand's tenth anniversary.
A bi-compax chronograph equipped with two box-type sapphire crystals that offer an unobstructed view, a semi-skeletonized movement thoughtfully designed, and on the back a crystal that follows the curve of the oscillating weight to reveal the column wheel, the silent architect of each trigger.
NINE IN TEN marks a turning point: it's no longer just about showing the mechanics, it's about addressing those who already know how to read them.
The rest will no longer be written here.
It takes shape on the wrist.
In the mechanics we learn to read.
In the time we choose to live differently.