In the mysterious and contemporary space that is Watches and Wonders Geneva, Roger Dubuis dramatically revealed the tourbillon in all its forms. The four novelties include the Orbis in Machina, the Excalibur Sunrise Double Tourbillon, the Excalibur Titanium Monotourbillon, and the Excalibur Dragon Monotourbillon. Orbis in Machina was the most surprising as it houses a central tourbillon, unlike the iconic Roger Dubuis tourbillons at 7 o’clock. Gregory Bruttin, Strategic Product Director, of the marque explains why
Can you tell us first about why the change in the tourbillon position from the iconic Roger Dubuis position at 7 o’clock to a central one?
This year, it was very important for us to show everyone the philosophy we have in terms of tourbillon and why we develop it. We used the exhibition as an opportunity to explain why the first tourbillon in Roger Dubuis was in the 7 o’clock position and the journey to the current one. It was very important to come with something new for two reasons. One, it’s for Mr. Roger Dubuis because I think the creation of the brand was for him a way to create his own tourbillon. Before he created his brand, he had mastered the making of the chronograph and perpetual calendar, but if you wanted to develop a tourbillon then, you needed to work with an engineer. I think it was a reason why he created his own company. I remember when we started the project in 2002, it was a very important project for him. And this year, for me, it’s really a tribute to his vision. We put the tourbillon in the centre of the watch to highlight the objective, which is the quest to offset gravity. If you turn the watch, you get the feeling of a very traditional movement with a traditional finishing. This is inspired by the first Roger Dubuis watch, which had a very modern look, but when you turned the watch, it looked very traditional.
There are two circles that indicate time; did you have any issues with how the circles react to the tourbillon and how they move?
We didn’t have any problems with the tourbillon, but we did with the crown. The trajectory of the hour hand is just in front of the crown, and it was a big challenge to modify the movement to create something where we could put all the elements connected to the crown at the bottom of the movement. That was very challenging, and we again were inspired by Roger. Whenever we tried to create a new thing and were stuck, Roger would tell us, “Hey guys, everything has been invented in the watchmaking industry. Just search in the past.” We did search and found a very old pocket watch with a mechanism where the two elements of setting and winding were in the same side; we took inspiration from this watch and adapted it to create this button that can both wind the watch and set the time.
This year you have unveiled the Excalibur Titanium Monotourbillon right on the heels of the debut of the Excalibur Monobalancier Titanium in 2023; how successful was the Excalibur with the titanium bracelet?
It was a huge success; the watch represented the brand philosophy as it is a very modern watch crafted with modern metals and was a huge success. It’s the reason why we create these pieces. It’s very unconventional to create the affordable watch first and then the high-end one. Therefore, it was very important for us to come with a collector’s piece and the tourbillon is really a piece for collectors. We would love for everyone to have this watch, but some people want a tourbillon, like the feeling of a tourbillon, and think that our tourbillons carry the DNA of the brand. It’s the reason why we developed this one. It has been a big success; it is a very limited edition of only 28 pieces.
Can you tell us more about the bracelet as it is very hard to create a bracelet that is actually very comfortable and is so unmistakably a Roger Dubuis?
We developed this bracelet in 2010, and though we have never really promoted the bracelet we have received a lot of good feedback. It’s modern and is very original. It’s very difficult to achieve that and yet be able to retain its utter comfort level. Since 2010, we created only a few series of this bracelet, and this was only for some markets but at the end we took the time to improve the quality and the comfort level also because it is a challenge when people have hairy wrists. We found the solution by optimising the construction of the bracelet to change some angles and some elements to overcome these challenges.
Can you tell us about the Excalibur Dragon Monotourbillon, which you offered for the Chinese New Year – something extremely different from other brands that presented Dragon timepieces?
That is a fun story; we are a brand that is well-known for micro engraving mainly because of our Knights of the Round Table series. We were sure every brand would present something like that and so we decided that we were going to come with something new, something modern. We know the challenge of micro engraving. With the Knights of the Round Table, we balance the micro engraving with a very modern dial, and we find the perfect balance. If we make just one dragon, attaining the balance is very difficult and we have already done that in the past with a small series. That is why we decided to come with a very modern design, and we took inspiration from Chinese calligraphy. We studied artists, some very old, to understand it and we came up with this version, but it was too easy. We decided to put gold marquetry on the timepiece as it supports craftsmanship and also gives us a chance to exhibit our mastery of the métiers d’art on this timepiece. The marquetry is very interesting as is the modern design. The feedback we have received has been great as this kind of work has never been seen before. We are very happy because we think we did good job in creating this kind of a tourbillon.
Lately, Roger Dubuis has been doing very limited number of collaborations; can we expect any collaborations this year?
Not immediately, but in the future, for sure. It’s very important for us to find the right artist and to create the best piece for that artist; all of this takes time. It’s the reason why it is a plan for the future. We don’t know yet if that will be this year or the next, but for sure we will come back.
Last year you presented chronographs, but this year we haven’t seen any; will there be any new references for the chronograph?
We do have one planned for this year, but that will be like last year when it came out later in the year. Last year, we debuted the Excalibur Spider Huracán Monobalancier at the Goodwood Festival. This year, our chronograph is linked to Lamborghini, and we are planning to unveil it at a Lamborghini activation that will occur in the summer.
