Hands-On With The Surprising Roger Dubuis Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar — Celebrating The Brand’s 30th Anniversary With A 40mm Watch
Possibly one of the most unexpected novelties released during this year’s Watches and Wonders was a double-retrograde calendar watch with a 40mm pink gold case. Now, a timepiece of that size, in that material, and with that complication — I mean no disrespect to double-retrograde indications — doesn’t sound too surprising when you think of the traditional Haute Horlogerie players presenting their novelties at the salon. But in this case, the modestly sized, Poinçon de Genève-certified day/date watch was made by a brand that generally makes more voluptuous, exuberant, and extravagant timepieces. This relatively introverted watch celebrates the brand’s 30th anniversary and caught many, including me, off guard in a positive way. Now it’s time for a hands-on with the surprising Roger Dubuis Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar.
Roger Dubuis is one of the brands I followed from the very start of its inception. It was founded in 1995, and the first watch appeared a year later. This all happened when I was formed, so to speak, as a watch lover. Just as the bands you listened to during your teens will always be part of your life and hearing them on the radio while driving will bring immediately make you sing along word for word with a big smile on your face, a watch or brand from the years you discovered a new wonderous world of micromechanics that do the craziest things, like displaying the correct date for many decades to come, will give you a fuzzy feeling that harks back to the “wonder years.” That’s what happened when I first encountered the Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar.
Hands-on with the surprising Roger Dubuis Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar
Anyone with some knowledge of the Genevan brand will immediately recognize where the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar (ref. DBEX1179) got its looks from. The new creation is very obviously a mix of the aesthetic used in the brand’s very early years and the current design language. The result is an interesting amalgam that works wonderfully well. The contemporary elements, such as the triple lugs and notched bezel, are presented in a watch measuring just 40mm in diameter — that’s a size S in Roger Dubuis’s XXL hyper-horology world — and paired to a dial that’s a harmonious blend of past and present.
The contemporarily designed retrograde hand — large, edgy, open-worked and made from brass to save weight — on the left indicates the day, and the one on the right indicates the date on a crescent-shaped scale, which returns to zero at the end of each cycle. Watchmaker Roger Dubuis co-patented a retrograde mechanism in 1989, which became the basis for the brand’s debut watch seven years later. The Bi-Retrograde Perpetual Calendar from the Hommage collection displayed the day and date similarly on its so-called “ecliptic counters.” On top of that, the watch also showed the months and the leap year in a sub-dial at 12 and a moonphase indicator at 6 o’clock.
Roger Dubuis Bi-Retrograde Perpetual Calendar from the Hommage collection
The new Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar forgoes those extra functions, but it still captures the spirit of RD’s debut watch. It does so, for example, by honoring the symmetry of the original model with a round badge showing the coat of arms of Geneva surrounded by the name of the watch in a historic font at 12 and the small seconds at 6.
The shimmering seven-layered dial
Since we have our eyes on the dial, we might as well continue here. It’s a dial that consists of no fewer than seven layers, and it includes a silver-plated double-surface flange, under which the pivoting points of the two retrograde hands hide, making their movement and appearance more intriguing. The silver-plated and satin-brushed dial features gold-plated hour markers with white Super-LumiNova in the center. It also displays a pink gold outline and text. Furthermore, there’s a pink-gold-plated satin-brushed calendar display with black transferred texts and dots. Highlights are, however, the mother-of-pearl inserts at 12 and 6 o’clock. Not only do they seem to connect the ecliptic counters, which are wide on the outside and narrow towards the center, but they also pay tribute to Roger Dubuis. He was the first watchmaker to use 18K pink gold and mother-of-pearl together.
The multifaceted watchmaker Roger Dubuis
Indeed, Roger Dubuis was not a conservative watchmaker. Directly after graduating, he worked at Longines for nine years, repairing a variety of historic chronographs. He then transferred to Patek Philippe in Geneva. He joined the Grand Complications workshop and spent the next 15 years creating traditional Haute Horlogerie movements. But his artistic view on watches was always unconventional, avant-garde, and daring.
Watchmaker Roger Dubuis at work
Before founding his brand, Monsieur Dubuis and fellow watchmaker Sven Andersen started Groupement Genevois des Cabinotiers in 1977. The idea behind it was to save traditional watchmaking from the dangers of quartz watches. In that period, Dubuis also conceived a watch based on a drawing by his young daughter. Throughout the brand’s 30-year history, many technically and aesthetically exuberant creations have come to life, reflecting the founder’s watchmaking skills and taste in watch design.
Having a taste of the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar
“Honey, they shrunk the Roger Dubuis.” That was my first thought upon seeing the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar during a pre-Watches and Wonders dinner in Geneva. But immediately after that, I thought the proportions were spot on. The pink gold case measures 40mm in diameter and 11.25mm thick. The size does matter here, just not in the way of the popular saying. The reduced size matters because it connects to the brand’s heritage and changes the overall design. As you can see, reducing the overall size of the watch led to a notched bezel that now looks more delicate than ever. And the same goes for the triple-lug situation — I still regard it as a situation and not so much a design element. The look of these lugs is toned down to a level that they don’t dominate the overall design of the watch.
As you now know, the dial is a complicated piece of craftsmanship, but it is also quite attractive. The mother-of-pearl adds a luxurious shimmer to a semi-open-worked dial, above which hovers large hands in the current RD style. The mix of softness, stronger shapes, and a peek at what drives this timepiece is fully balanced.
Reading the watch
Before I put the watch on my wrist, a peek at the back revealed the in-house, 240-part RD840 movement. This automatic caliber features the retrograde day and date displays and bears the prestigious Poinçon de Genève. Achieving this certification requires manual movement decoration, hand-polished surfaces, and passing several chronometer tests.
The oscillating weight is a modernized version of the 1996 original. And there is more. There’s also something to read on the movement side of the watch. On the outside of the caliber, there’s the following quote from Roger Dubuis and the brand’s co-founder, Carlos Dias. It reads, “C’est une montre actuelle, inspirée mais pas soumise au passé, qui se projette dans un futur qui nous appartient.” This translates to, “This is a watch of today, inspired but not restricted to the past, projected into a future that belongs to us.”
Wearing the watch
A watch of this size wears effortlessly. The lugs are on the longer side (I’m sorry for forgetting to measure the length of the case; I was too enchanted by the watch’s spell when I tried it on), but they created no problem on my 18.5cm wrist. The slender shape of the lugs did help create a flowing and elegant silhouette, which I appreciate. The finishing of the case is of the highest level. But that is, of course, to be expected from a watch that earned the Hallmark of Geneva.
It might be hard to believe when I say this particular RD could function as a daily wearer. But thanks to its size and refined appearance, I do think that’s true. And although the watch comes in pink gold, it is not overly flashy. On top of that, the MOP dial details function as an attention seeker for its wearer, not the public. The shimmering MOP makes you want to look at the watch over and over again.
Pricing and availability
The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar, priced at €64,000 / CHF 56,500, is a non-limited watch in the brand’s regular collection and will be available very soon. In time, it will most probably be joined by other creations with more moderately sized cases and history-inspired designs. When you go through the brand’s back catalog, there are plenty of treasures awaiting rediscovery and reinterpretation, begging to serve as inspiration in a way that honors the past and fits the present and future of the brand. Roger Dubuis created a watch that appeals to more watch enthusiasts than it did in the recent past. And it also laid a solid foundation for future timepieces with a watch that charmingly relives the past while not falling into the retro trap of just reissuing something.
Although I know the pricing is on such a level that it won’t be for everyone, it does offer more watch fans the opportunity to enter the world of Roger Dubuis. The Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar could prove to be the starting point of an important next chapter in the life of Roger Dubuis.
