  Let $\mathscr{A}$ be a unital $C^*$-algebra with unit $e$ and let $\nu\in(0,
1)$. We introduce the concept of the $\nu$-weighted contraharmonic of two
positive definite elements $a$ and $b$ of $\mathscr{A}$ by \begin{align*}
{C}_{\nu}(a, b):= (1-\nu)\nu^{-1}b + \nu (1-\nu)^{-1}a -
\left((1-\nu)a^{-1}+\nu b^{-1}\right)^{-1}. \end{align*} We show that
\begin{align*} {C}_{\nu}(a, b)=
\displaystyle{\max_{x+y=e}}\left\{(1-\nu)^{-1}\left(\nu a - x^*ax\right) +
\nu^{-1}\left((1-\nu)b - y^*by\right)\right\}, \end{align*} and then apply it
to present some properties of this weighted mean.
