Creative, extravagant and wildly skilful, there’s no watch brand quite like Roger Dubuis. They have carved out their own place in an industry already famed for its innovation and commitment to tradition – no mean feat when you consider horological arts have been honed over centuries.
For product strategy director Gregory Bruttin, their success is due to the balance they have struck between traditional watchmaking and contemporary design. “On one side, Roger Dubuis masters the requirements of the Poinçon de Genève, an extremely demanding level of independent certification. The latter is highly valued by watch connoisseurs and collectors,” he explains.
“On the other, Roger Dubuis offers outstanding designs, the landmark of which was surely the creation of contemporary skeletons. The same amount of energy is spent on the engineering of the Roger Dubuis calibres than on their design. So not only is Roger Dubuis a blend of haute horlogerie, technically-speaking, but also a new way to think the haute horlogerie concepts.”
They face the familiar struggle every contemporary designer has to contend with – the design can be as avant-garde as you can dream up, but the product has to be functional. For the Roger Dubuis brand, harmony between the departments is key.
“The way the product department is organised is unique in the watch industry,” says Bruttin. “On the same platform, we have gathered the engineers and the designers. They all work in an open space office where we encourage, as much as possible, exchange and discussion between them. Uniting those two profiles – engineers and designers – is like creating a big brain in which both the left and right hemispheres are working full steam. This is how we find the balance between function and aesthetics – and how we push both to the maximum.”
Roger Dubuis Excalibur Quatuor
So in a brand famed for its design capabilities, what are the key cornerstones of watch design for him? “We are the pioneer in contemporary skeletons. When all the other brands were removing materials from existing calibres, Roger Dubuis specifically designed calibres in order for them to be skeleton, from the beginning of the conception. On top of that, when all the other brands were producing bridges and plates with round shapes, Roger Dubuis decided to go with structures made with straight lines, like structural beams. When the finish is done by hand – as all of the components of the Roger Dubuis calibres are – it is a lot more difficult to finish straight surfaces than curved ones.”
When it comes to design, there are no limitations, although there are some things they can’t do: “We cannot design something that is perfect if it is not Roger Dubuis. Some codes are part of the Roger Dubuis identity and we must stick to them. For Excalibur, for example, the fluted bezel and the third lug are mandatory, even if it would make our life so much easier – technically and aesthetically – to forget about those two.”
Excalibur Spider Full Carbon
Bruttin has always pushed the boundaries of what is possible, despite opposition he has encountered over the years from others in the watch industry. “There is a project I worked on, some years ago, which was really not off to a good start,” he tells us.
“At the beginning, every expert watchmaker I met told me it was mechanically impossible. Then, when talking about the size of the timepiece, the master of aesthetics told me it was either too big, too thick or too complicated. Nevertheless, I kept believing in this project and pushed hard to bring it to life. As a result, the timepiece generated a new concept based on instantaneous gravity compensation, leading us to register several patents for its mechanism before it was warmly welcomed by our customer base. This project is now more commonly known under the name of the Quatuor, and, for the past five years, we kept on selling, regularly, some new execution of this extraordinary timepiece.”
It takes a very special brand to be able to maintain standards at this level of innovation. While a lot of brands will see most of their sales at entry level, creating a small number of masterpieces which they release in a blaze of publicity (and not expecting clients to buy them), Roger Dubuis is the opposite.
“During the creation process we only think about what could be fun, exclusive and feel like a discovery for our clients. If the ideas resulting from our brainstorming sessions meet these three criteria, then they are worth developing, no matter the commercial or marketing – or even the industrial – constraints.” Ideas spring from everything. “Modern technology and other industries are very important to me,” Bruttin confirms.
“Once my eyes have the technology filter on, I dive into traditional watchmaking and look at it from a different perspective. This is how Roger Dubuis was able to release the first ever timepiece entirely in carbon – case and calibre – which is certified by the Poinçon de Genève. The Excalibur Spider Full Carbon is the perfect evolution of traditional watchmaking, incorporating today’s technology and design.”
THE PARTNERSHIPS
The Excalibur Spider Pirelli Automatic Skeleton successfully unites the worlds of motoring and horology
While we would never expect Roger Dubuis to commit to a partnership with the simple stamp of another brand’s logo on their dial, the lengths they do go to are really quite extraordinary. Their partnerships with Pirelli and Lamborghini have looked closely at the engineering behind both brands, examining ways in which their methods can be incorporated into the watches themselves.
The partnerships began when CEO Jean-Marc Pontroué was invited by Pirelli to the Monaco Grand Prix – and, fascinated by what he saw with the engineers, he asked how they could work together. Upon noticing the tyres discarded at the end of the race, the idea to incorporate the winning tyres in the straps of the watches was born. Pirelli then brought him to Lamborghini, and so it began.
Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Pirelli Double Flying Tourbillon
Bruttin reveals just how closely the brands worked together: “When talking about the latest release of Roger Dubuis, the Excalibur Aventador S which was launched for the partnership with Lamborghini, the whole conception process was spent with the designer, literally sitting next to the engineer to ensure the aesthetic would not be distorted by the technical requirements. It is not a question of limiting the design, it is a question of how you can maximise both sides of the creation process, and how two different worlds can work together. This is what makes the result even more interesting.”
The Excalibur Aventador S is a supreme example of slick watch design
The partnerships bring a wealth of creativity into the brand. “Imagine you’re a kid at the head of a beautiful toy store (this is already a very pleasant position) and you get the possibility to go out and meet with other kids at the heads of other toy stores, offering different kinds of toys as appealing as yours. It is fun! Moreover, on a technical level, I’ll give you an example. The Excalibur Aventador S is equipped with our in-house RD103SQ calibre; during the launch of the partnership with Lamborghini in Sant’Agata Bolognese, it was made with the exact same C-SMC carbon that is used to produce the chassis of the Aventador S supercar. We would not have had access to this technology without the partnership.”
Quick Fire Questions
How important is it to you to keep creating pieces that are innovative and original?
The day we stop doing so, I’ll leave the company because my mission will have reached an end.
Who do you see as your nearest competitors?
Anyone who offers something very distinctive and innovative for the same amount of money as our timepieces. And I am not talking only about watches – it can be cars, jewels, yachts or travel.
Which is your favourite model and why?
Please don’t ask me to choose between my first, second or third child – I love them all a lot. Sometimes one makes me smile while the other gets on my nerves. At another moment, it is the opposite. I don’t choose, I watch them grow and make everything I can so that they are capable of leaving home and becoming independent as quickly as possible.
What are you planning for your next watch?
We have a thousand ideas for the future. Our challenge will be to select the right ones. It will probably have something to do with new materials or reinterpreting traditional complications. It’s very much to be continued…
Do you collect watches – and which brand would you wear aside from your own?
Most of the time I don’t wear a watch at all, so that my mind isn’t influenced by something that was already done. However, if I had to choose a brand, I would go with the one that doesn’t come with a ‘me too’ pin when you purchase the timepiece.
