Most watch brands would shudder at the mere thought of attempting what Taos achieves year after year.
These one-of-a-kind timepieces have been painstakingly decorated using experimental métiers d’art techniques.
The brand was founded in 2024 by Olivier Gaud—a former executive of Vacheron Constantin and Cartier—together with the revered dial maestro Olivier Vaucher. The latter is widely regarded as a grand master of decorative techniques, having crafted scintillating dials for haute horlogerie brands such as Richard Mille and Roger Dubuis for decades.
What differentiates Taos in an ever-growing marketplace is its unhurriedness. Every timepiece is a pièce unique, into which Vaucher and his artisans pour thousands of hours of skilled labor. In an industry shaped by revenue targets and production schedules, there is something undeniably magnetic about work that cannot be scaled or rushed—much like the output of independent watchmakers such as Philippe Dufour and Christian Klings.
Yet Taos is not about chasing lucrative special commissions. Instead, the brand serves as Gaud and Vaucher’s “blue sky”: a creative playground for experimenting, researching, developing, and pushing the envelope of métiers d’art, without hyperbole.
If you’ve encountered this boutique maison before, you might remember objets d’art such as Broderies, which featured strands of fine enamel inlaid into floral patterns, or Euphorie, whose intricate dial combined multiple overlays of paillons and enamel, requiring numerous firings in the kiln.
The duo of novelties unveiled by Taos today continues this spirit of unbridled creativity, tapping into Vaucher’s immense savoir-faire to push the possibilities of hand decoration even further.
“Our main objective with Taos is to promote and elevate métiers d’art in watchmaking and, in the long run, become a reference point in this niche market,” Gaud told Knockoff Watches Wholesale. “Our second objective is to be the ‘crazy laboratory’ of Ateliers Olivier Vaucher, enabling our RD department and artisans to explore, develop and create new techniques, and to push the boundaries of their craft.”
Taos Genèse
The first of the pair unveiled this week is the Taos Genèse. Its dial begins with hand engraving, after which enamel is applied and deliberately “under-fired”, leaving the surface with a rugged, almost geological texture.
Inspired by the layered strata of the Earth, the Genèse becomes a compelling work of marquetry. Cuboid segments of under-fired enamel are aligned with pieces of white gold, alongside dozens of precisely hand-cut fragments of black jade and blue agate.
“The theme of this new collection is ‘shapes of nature’. Emma Bertrand, the designer of Ateliers Olivier Vaucher, started by exploring different elements, shapes and materials found in nature,” elaborates Gaud.
“For Genèse, she took inspiration from different mineral strata, types of stones and their respective colors. Our goal for this watch was to propose a more masculine watch to the market, and to mix several métiers d’art techniques together.”
Turning the watch over reveals the meticulous balance wheel, yet the true visual focus lies in the movement’s engraved backplate. Gaud and Vaucher had commissioned the La Chaux-de-Fonds-based movement maker Télôs to develop a caliber with generous surface area for showcasing the brand’s intricate engraving.
The result is the VOP318, a movement developed exclusively for Taos that now powers all of the brand’s watches.
Paired with a hand-stitched grey nubuck leather strap with saddle stitching, the Taos Genèse is priced at CHF150,000.
Taos Odonata
Inspired by the delicate plants and tiny creatures found in a garden, the Odonata takes its name from the insect order to which dragonflies belong.
“For Odonata, Emma first imagined a hybrid microcosm mixing animals and plants,” Gaud reveals.
“The main objective for this watch was to challenge the artisans of Ateliers Olivier Vaucher and to create Taos’ most ambitious watch—a watch with depth, art, colors and complexity.”
Its hand-engraved dial is a tour de force of decorative craftsmanship. It incorporates paillonné enamel—metal foil fired beneath translucent enamel—alongside plique-à-jour enamel, whose delicate structure resembles miniature stained-glass windows. These are complemented by suspended white gold appliqués, grand feu enamel, then micro-painted, and inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
Diamonds scattered across the bezel and lugs add further brilliance. The watch is secured to the wrist by an iridescent satin-style leather strap, hand-stitched in white with traditional saddle stitching, and is priced at CHF200,000.
Both timepieces come in 38mm white-gold cases—a wonderfully discreet size, in my view—and measure just 10mm thick. Their pin buckles too are crafted in matching 18k white gold.
To me, Taos’s pièces uniques symbolize discretion, ingenuity, and watchmaking soul. They represent not merely the pinnacle of horological decoration, but also the purest expression of exclusive luxury.
