Roger Dubuis: An Expressive Singularity
We talk to Nicolas Andreatta, CEO of Roger Dubuis, about the unique heritage of the marque, its numerous offerings and the way forward…
Has it been beneficial coming from a watchmaking background to Roger Dubuis?
When I came to Roger Dubuis, I felt that I have come to the end of my training, to the position I wanted to be in. Roger Dubuis is a very peculiar brand with a unique DNA. I started my career in Asia; I worked in manufacturing, then started designing and then created my own brand. I started working with Tiffany and restarted their watch business, which gave me the perspective of a big corporate. My varied experience with my watchmaking background has helped me connect better with my directors. I feel that I am on the same level as my directors; I will never replace any of them because they know much more about their field than I do. Because of my background, I feel that I understand them, and bond better with them. When I go downstairs and speak to my workers about changing the speed of a machine, they know that I know what I am talking about because I have worked on a CNC machine when I was younger.
What do you mean when you say that Roger Dubuis is a peculiar brand with a unique DNA?
Mr Roger Dubuis was one of the best watchmakers in the world; his experience in Patek Phillipe as a movement designer and engineer led him to come here with a huge portfolio of ideas that he wanted to put in place here in a different way. The evolution of Roger Dubuis was that he started with the most complicated movements and calibres in the world, but decided to develop it in a different manner, what we call contemporary and expressive haute horlogerie. Our new launches are examples of that; not everyone likes us. We are not for everybody; the best things in the world are not for everybody. Our products are very expensive because of the quality, the craftsmanship and the expertise we put in every single piece.
Will you continue with the vision and strategies of Jean-Marc Pontroué (former CEO of Roger Dubuis) or is your perspective for the future of the brand different?
When I took over as CEO of the brand, I thought and still think that Jean-Marc’s vision made perfect sense. The idea of streamlining the collections and offering Roger Dubuis watches under the Excalibur and Velvet series was a great one. The starting of partnerships was key for us to grow further, so there is no need for me to change the course or strategy of the brand. I have visited every single boutique in all our markets, spoken to all the people on the ground, our sales personnel, to understand the DNA of the brand. I realised that innovation is key to the brand; we can go further in becoming a very innovative brand, and we are unique because of the innovation we bring to the world of watchmaking. I created a shadow committee of very young people so that they can tell us how work is evolving, about what the world of young people is thinking of haute horlogerie, so that we can cater to that world. We created a laboratory where we work on new ideas, materials and calibres. We also work on innovative ideas on marketing our timepieces.
Despite the enormous success of our collaborations with Lamborghini and Pirelli, I think we have left behind a little of our DNA as high watchmakers. We have some of the best complications and we have aesthetically beautiful products. Possibly, we have not expressed that enough – the world of expressive singularity – in the last few years. We want to connect with art, all the pleasures of life. The Excalibur Diabolus in Machina is the first example of that, we will soon have other products that will fit within that other universe.
You mentioned a few months ago that you will reduce the number of watches that Roger Dubuis makes; can you tell us why?
We cannot be a brand making double flying tourbillon, minute repeater, perpetual calendars and, at the same time, offer thousands of watches in the market. It is better to concentrate on the best of our offerings; we cannot be for everybody as industrially it does not work. My choice is to remove the less complicated watches and fully concentrate on what is the DNA of the brand, which is expressed in contemporary haute horlogerie. The starting point is the skeletonised automatic movement, which is the base of our offer. In the world of motorsports, we have the Huracán collection, which is our entry level. In Expressive Singularity, we have our automatic skeleton, which in the future will be re-designed and re-introduced in the market.
The Lamborghini partnership has been a great success; where do you see this in the future?
The partnership is not just a marketing strategy; we have a strong connection with the world of Lamborghini because we are very similar. Firstly, the products are very similar: they have an engine and a chassis, we too have an engine and chassis. Their engines are very powerful, sophisticated and complicated; our movements are the best in the market. They like their chassis to be conspicuous, powerful and they play with strong colours. It is the same with us; we take the watchmaking to a different level. We bring some innovations to them and they bring some innovations to us. This will only continue in the future; we have plenty of ideas and projects. Our partnership with them has been extended from the original agreement for quite a few more years.
How difficult was it to make the Excalibur Diabolus in Machina – combining a classical movement complication such as a minute repeater with the avant-garde DNA of Roger Dubuis?
It would have been much more difficult for us to make a classic watch, because this is what we are. Diabolus in Machina is a very complicated movement, something that is part of our DNA since the beginning of the brand. The first complication that Mr Roger Dubuis himself introduced was the minute repeater. We changed a few things in that the timepiece features not only a minute repeater but a single flying tourbillon; quite amazing in itself. We then introduced a couple of features: the indicator for the movement being on Set Time or Winding Time; we added another interesting feature at 11 o’clock, a little indicator that shows the tone – hours, quarters or minutes – you are playing at that time. We then managed to integrate that into the design of the watch. We are the only maison to use chrome cobalt for a watch. We used it because it is stronger than steel, with similar properties but it has this incredible azure colour when in the light, which is pretty amazing. That is why we used blue in the skeletonised dial, to connect the case with the colour of the dial. The chemical composition of the material allows it to be scratch-proof. If you scratch it, you cannot see it because of its composition; it is almost like it is self-repairing. Also because of its chemical composition, the sound it produces is very pure.
