Forged carbon — Automatic watch LWPFC

This material was born in 2010, between a Lamborghini and a golf club head.

Forged carbon has nothing to do with the chequered carbon weave. There is no weaving: short fibre tows, around a centimetre long, are dropped loose into a mould with their resin and compressed under heat. Under the press the tows reorient at random, and that randomness draws the marbling. Callaway, which uses it for its clubs, quotes something like 500,000 fibres per square inch.

The process was developed jointly by Lamborghini and Callaway, and shown at the Paris Motor Show in 2010 on the Sesto Elemento. Its density is roughly 1.5 grams per cubic centimetre, a third that of titanium: it is the lightest material in the collection.

On the dial the black is never quite flat. Depending on the angle the tows catch the light in patches and the surface reorganises itself; the copper flecks running through the material light up and vanish. The bezel is cut from the same block, so the marbling does not stop at the edge of the dial. Black leather strap.

The case remains 316L stainless steel, machined from solid and closed by six screws, under two sapphire crystals. It houses a Miyota 8215: Japanese automatic, 21 jewels, 21,600 vibrations per hour, around 42 hours of power reserve, hand winding possible.

43 mm across, 13 mm thick, with a dial and bezel that weigh a third of titanium. The wrist photograph in the gallery is taken on a 19.5 cm wrist. Limited to 200 numbered pieces: the marbling cannot be reproduced by anyone, not even by the mould that made it.

Key specifications

• Japanese automatic movement Miyota 8215 — 21 jewels, 21,600 vibrations per hour
• Power reserve: around 42 hours — automatic and manual winding, quick date setting
• Dial, bezel and crown in forged carbon — short fibre tows compressed under heat in their resin
• 316L stainless steel case machined from solid, caseback secured by six screws
• Sapphire crystal front and back — movement on show
• Water resistance 5 ATM (50 m)
• Display: hours, minutes, seconds, date
• Diameter 43 mm · Thickness 13 mm
• Adjustable genuine leather strap, folding clasp
• Roughly three times lighter than titanium for the same volume
• Limited to 200 pieces, each one numbered
• Assembled and inspected in France — 2-year legal guarantee of conformity

Care

A soft dry cloth. Forged carbon is a fibre-filled resin: it fears neither water nor perspiration, but it scratches like a lacquer. Avoid solvents, alcohol and glass cleaners, which dull the surface resin.

Further reading (in French): our guide to forged carbon.