Editor’s Note
This article explores the evolution of Formex’s Essence Ceramica line, from its groundbreaking skeletonized debut to the introduction of solid dial variants and a new mechanical movement.
When Formex presented the Essence Ceramica Skeleton in March 2025, it marked a turning point: the brand’s first fully ceramic case and bracelet, the world’s first micro-adjustable ceramic clasp, and a bold architectural dial revealing the underlying engineering. In September, the collection was enriched with four signature solid dials — bringing the recognizable identity of the Essence to ceramic and inaugurating Formex’s new mechanical partnership with Soprod. Today, the platform evolves again with its first exceptional dial, a category that helped forge Formex’s reputation in the steel Essence line, where dials made from meteorite electroplated with 18k rose gold, 925 silver, or treated with galvanic rhodium have become highly sought-after pieces by collectors. For the all-black Ceramica, Formex faced a different challenge: darkening the meteorite without altering its Widmanstätten crystalline pattern or its natural metallic luster. The result is the Dark Matter dial — achieved through a dark nickel electroplating process, developed after numerous prototypes at Cadranor, the family-owned dial manufacturer located in the Swiss Jura mountains. It marks a new chapter for the Essence Ceramica, where a celestial material meets modern ceramic architecture in its most enigmatic form.
Approximately four ice ages ago, the metallic Muonionalusta meteorite entered Earth’s atmosphere and fragmented over an isolated region north of the Arctic Circle — an area frozen for most of the year and plunged for months into permanent darkness. It is from this extraterrestrial alloy that Formex cuts each Dark Matter dial.
After meticulous cutting and engraving, the meteorite undergoes a dark nickel electroplating treatment that blackens the material while accentuating its natural Widmanstätten pattern — geometric, interlocking crystalline structures formed only when an iron-nickel core cools slowly and undisturbed in space over millions of years. The result is not a uniform black coating, but a surface that oscillates between deep graphite and bright metallic flashes depending on the angle and light. No two Dark Matter dials will ever be identical; nature does not repeat itself.
Unlike most meteorite or stone dials, which are merely thin slices glued onto brass plates, the Dark Matter is designed as a monobloc component. This approach allows Formex to directly weld the dial feet into the meteorite, making possible a fully milled and beveled date window at 6 o’clock — a technical feat in dial manufacturing. Paired with the intensely black, ultra-scratch-resistant ceramic case, the dial seems almost endowed with a gravitational force, drawing the eye towards its shifting crystalline fields.
Gun-metal colored applied indices and hands float above the surface, their brushed facets and polished bevels catching light like orbiting fragments. Super-LumiNova BGW9 ensures perfect legibility in the dark, while a tone-on-tone date disc preserves visual harmony. Even the “Swiss Made” inscription discreetly moves to the rehaut, letting the cosmos take center stage.
