ROGER DUBUIS - Haute Horlogerie

Women are conquering the world. Whether in the office of Germany’s chancellor, in the top post at the International Monetary Fund or in high-ranking executive positions at major international corporations, increasingly many women are moving into formerly all-male domains.

And now they’re poised to enter another erstwhile men-only realm: the world of mechanical watches. Incentive for the ladies’ incursion is provided by the Geneva-based Roger Dubuis manufactory, which produces watches that combine the magic of mechanisms, aesthetically feminine design and an irresistibly luxurious aura. 

All this is beautifully evident in the Excalibur collection, a cult model from Roger Dubuis that boasts unique stylistic features. These include decorative horns to accommodate the wristband, a boldly notched bezel that also looks wonderful when it's encrusted with brilliant-cut diamonds, and stylized Roman numerals on the face. These stylish numbers dominate the dial with their glossy graphic lines, which develop dynamism and make a powerful statement as exclusive diamond pavé or in rose gold against a silver-coloured background. The high-contrast version in black and white is equally elegant and capricious. But these wristwatches don't only look great from the front: each model from Roger Dubuis amply rewards a gaze through the back of its case, where a transparent window reveals the mechanical fascination of the timepiece's inner life.

This fascination is even more compelling if the watch is skeletonised because here the dial side likewise offers entirely new perspectives and revealing views of the mechanical calibre. Via painstaking piercing and sawing, the components of a skeletonised movement are pared away to the barest minimum so the horological technology serves as an element of design and each watch becomes a sculpture of time – one of Roger Dubuis' specialties.

A voyage into the interior of a mechanical watch from the ateliers of Roger Dubuis can be compared to a revelation. One immerses oneself in the architecture of the watch’s movement, allows one’s gaze to follow its intermeshing gears, feasts one’s eyes on its meticulously decorated bridges, and finally becomes spellbound by the perpetual back and forth of the tirelessly oscillating balance. If the timepiece encases a self-winding movement, then the inner landscape is dominated by the finely decorated rotor. Set into motion by the movements of the wearer’s forearm, this swinging weight uses kinetic energy captured from the wearer’s motions to wind the mainspring. If, by contrast, the watch is manually wound, then the wearer conveys energy to the mainspring by turning the crown. No rotor obstructs the view through the rearward window here, so a connoisseur can readily admire the savvy arrangement and marvellous choreography of the individual components.

The more functions a watch performs, the more components its movement needs.  Specialists use the word “complications” to denote these additional functions, which include, for example: the chronograph with its ability to tally elapsed intervals; the perpetual calendar with its correct displays of the current date and month, which even take leap years into account; and the tourbillon. Each of these specialties is available among the collections of watches from the Roger Dubuis’ manufactory.

Exclusive manufacturing likewise goes without saying at Roger Dubuis: 100% of each movement’s components are fabricated and assembled on the premises, thus making Roger Dubuis one of the few absolutely independent manufacturers. All this is crowned by the coveted Geneva Seal, which is earned by each of this brand’s movements because all of them uphold the Seal’s rigorous criteria. This gives Roger Dubuis an unparalleled status in the world of haute horlogerie. Among other stipulations, the criteria for earning the Geneva Seal insist that the movement must be fabricated in Geneva and that high-quality details must distinguish the calibre and its decorative finishing. Through scrupulous compliance with these strict regulations, the Roger Dubuis manufacture reaffirms its passion for haute horlogerie – while simultaneously striking a blow for women’s liberation because ladies’ watches from Roger Dubuis likewise embody this brand’s uncompromisingly high values in every detail

The fire of diamonds, along with the rainbow hues and irresistible magic of coloured gemstones: watches in the Velvet collection blend these ingredients of haute joaillerie with the horological artistry of Roger Dubuis. While the manufactory's watchmakers put the consummate finishing touches on these timepieces' mechanical inner lives, gemstone setters and goldsmiths perfect the exterior of each Velvet watch. Sumptuous diamonds are manually set, one gem directly alongside its neighbour, to create a sparkling adamantine pavé on the bezel, the dial, or both. Coloured gems similarly encrust other selected models, where they emphasize the horns, add shimmering nuances to the bracelets, and create incomparable chromatic harmonies.

The Hommage line is equally captivating. The watches in this collection prioritize breathtaking technology and its purist aesthetic. Modern women love this combination, especially when it’s accompanied by urbane, contemporary and elegant design. This styling characterizes the sleek automatic variant, where the case, the appliqués and the hands all gleam in rose gold, while the dial shimmers with a soft grey sheen and a wreath of brilliant-cut diamonds radiantly embellishes the bezel. The same convincing aesthetic also ennobles the crowning jewel of haute horlogerie: the tourbillon. To minimize the adverse effects of Earth’s gravity on the precision of a mechanical watch, this time-honoured construction – which numbers among Roger Dubuis’ specialties – puts the oscillating balance inside a constantly rotating cage. The Hommage Flying Tourbillon with outsize date is so enticingly sleek and irresistibly appealing that no one – neither man nor woman – can fail to be touched by its charm.

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