What happens when you approach a watch dial the same way a coin is made? To answer that, Beaubleu – the Paris-based independent founded in 2017 by designer and watchmaker Nicolas Ducoudert – turned to the Monnaie de Paris. Established in 864 AD by Charles II, it is one of the oldest continuously operating mints in the world. For twelve centuries, its craftspeople have struck metal with extraordinary precision, shaping coins and medals from raw blanks; until La Pièce, that craft had never once been applied to a watch dial.

Nicolas Ducoudert, founder of Beaubleu, at work — the designer-watchmaker behind La Pièce and its coin-struck dial concept

The collaboration produces what Beaubleu describes as a world first: two distinct dial references, each forged in the workshops of Monnaie de Paris in the heart of Paris, using the same traditional coin-striking techniques. The result is not simply a dial with a textured surface but a dial whose feature has been born from within the metal itself, pressed and sculpted rather than assembled from separate components.

Monnaie de Paris, founded in 864, where centuries-old coin-striking expertise was applied for the first time to a watch dial in Beaubleu’s La Pièce

Elements that are typically applied onto a dial are here fused into a single piece of metal.”

Conventional watch dials are layered: a base layer onto which indices, printed text, transferred colour, and separate sub-dial rings can be applied through various metiers d’arts. Coin-striking is different, it is more of a sculptural process and achieving that with a watch dial harnessed the herirage knowledge of the Monnaie in collaboration with the creative direction of Ducoudert.

An artisan at Monnaie de Paris hand-finishing a die — the same centuries-old coin-striking craft adapted to create the sculpted dials of Beaubleu’s La Pièce

La Pièce N°1 is conceived as an expression of passing time. Non-concentric circles ripple across the dial surface, evoking the movement of light across a day from sunrise to sunset. A powdered relief finish gives the metal a tactile quality like paper, while printed hour markers catch the light with a shimmer. Six colourways are offered: Graphite, Olive Green, Moka, Champagne, Empire Blue, and Burgundy, each rendered in the same struck-metal construction but inflected with distinct character. Against the dark registers, the flying seconds hand, Beaubleu’s signature complication, glides with elegance.

La Pièce N°2 pushes the technical achievement further. Here, the interior surfaces of the dial including the hour markers themselves have been machined directly from the struck metal, and mirror-polished to create visual depth on the one surface. Mirror-polished alongside satin-finished and iridescent areas allow light to land and play in different ways. In Silver, Rose Gold and Jet Black, the effect is striking.

Beaubleu La Pièce N°2 (Noir de Jais) — the most dramatic expression of the series, where light plays across deep black, mirror-polished and satin-finished surfaces carved from a single piece of metal

The case that houses both references is a Beaubleu 39mm in 316L stainless steel, 10.2mm thick, with polished and brushed surfaces and a hidden crown positioned at three o’clock to preserve the purity of the dial view. A double-domed sapphire crystal protects the struck surface. Inside sits a France Ébauches automatic calibre with a 46-hour power reserve – a movement manufactured in France, affirming the authenticity of this very French piece of horology.

Production limited to 888 numbered pieces per colourway priced between €1,790 and €1,890 depending on strap choice.