CARBON MATTERS

The use of carbon composite was high in watchmaking this year, right from the release of the Longines Ultra-Chron Carbon to the latest models in Doxa's Sub 300 Carbon line. We explore the material and its execution in 2025.

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Ever since Antoine Lavoisier named the element in 1772, trials with carbon have helped humanity a great deal. Leading to the development of organic chemistry, understanding diamond and graphite to be its allotropes, to even experimenting with it as a nuclear moderator, it’s difficult to encapsulate the impact of carbon in daily life, in a few lines. It’s somewhat easier, however, to look at its use in horology.

In the 1950s, carbon fibre, an ultra-thin strand of carbon atoms, was developed. Incredibly strong, stiff, and lightweight, it was about one-tenth the thickness of a human hair. When thousands of these strands are bundled into a yarn, and then woven into fabric, they form the base material used in carbon composites, which is in turn used in high-performance applications, in industries like aerospace and automobiles. The innovation of carbon composites—a material made by combining carbon fibres with a binding matrix, usually a type of polymer resin like epoxy—eventually trickled down to watchmaking.

For the longest time, watches were crafted in malleable metals, but carbon fibre has an exceptionally high stiffness-to-weight ratio—roughly five times lighter than steel for similar strength. Light, resistant to corrosion, and with a wavy pattern, it's easy to understand its use in dials, cases, bezel rings, and pushers. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, watchmakers began experimenting with carbon-fibre composites for cases and dials, largely inspired by motorsport and aerospace materials. In 1998, TAG Heuer experimented with new materials and unveiled its Kirium Ti5 with the first ever mirror-polished grade 5 titanium case. The dial was made of carbon fibre and the strap of rubber, enforcing its sporty feel. Swiss brand Candino soon followed with its C-F1 ‘Carbon Watch,’ an early model whose case, dial, and bracelet were made entirely of carbon fibre.