“More than just a traditional watch manufacture, ROGER DUBUIS is the reflection of a space spilling over with creative ideas.”

                                                                                                                                                                                          (From: RD press kit)

Roger Dubuis founded in 1995 is still a “young” company, even when there have been lots of changes in their history – changes of ownership, changes of collections, ups & downs …. Nonetheless all their (current) movements are in-house with Geneva Seal and they have more than 30 movements for usage (plus some more in the pipeline). Quite a lot I would say, for such a “young” company. Not only the company, their Associate Director for movement development, Gregory Bruttin, is young as well, but however he works in the company for more than 10 years and was employed by Roger Dubuis (the man) himself.


(Gregory Bruttin)

(Roger Dubuis)

Since last autumn Roger Dubuis (the man) is back (departed in 2005) and I think it is a great opportunity for all, that he is the new/old mentor for the movement development department and the person in charge. A mix out of (young) talent, creativity, passion and (mature) experience sounds promising.
SIHH 2012 - the booth shows the new spirit of Roger Dubuis very well and all four collections:

•    PULSION
•    VELVET
•    EXCALIBUR
•    LA MONEGASQUE

have their own space. Hollywood comes to my mind, when walking at the booth.

Let´s start with the first collection, a novelty in 2012.

“Inspired by the world of the Venturer, the watches in this collection are distinguished by a totally unique sapphire crystal.
Screwed down, it extends to the flanks of the case and serves as a bezel, while the numerals are engraved under the crystal
and impregnated with luminescent material.”
                                                                                                                                                                                           (From: RD press kit)

The new line PULSION starts with two watches, a flying tourbillon (something well known for RD) and a chronograph – both with in-house movements and of course with Geneva Seal. The new high end sports watches replace the former Easy Diver collection.

Chronograph

The RD 680 that powers the Pulsion Chronograph was introduced in the La Monegasque collection a few months ago and was the first of a new line of movements by Roger Dubuis. It is a column-wheel (more on this in the near future), vertical-clutch automatic chronograph caliber, which comes with a micro-rotor. The latter is one of the details which I like a lot, because it allows an open view on the movement – an elegant and convenient solution.


(caliber RD 680)

Let´s have a look at the watches:



Case: 44mm; black titanium, pink gold or titanium
Strap: Black rubber
Water resistance: 10 BAR (100 m)
Production: No limitation

Pictures from the fair … and personal comments …

Lots of nice details are shown, e.g. different finishing on multi-level dial and at the case, open views, characteristic hands and indexes …

The watch is far from being small, but it is very pleasing on the wrist. It has short lugs and a very smooth integrated rubber strap, which works very well – even on smaller wrists like mine.



The crown is good to handle and so are the pushers, even when the latter feels a bit strong for my personal taste. All together I think it is a nice competitor to the market of high end sports chronographs, especially for those who are bored about the uncounted number of Limited Editions from some brands (No offense, just a remark ).


Flying tourbillon Skeleton

Powered by RD 505SQ a mechanical hand wound skeleton movement.

Before we look at the watch itself, I would like to show you something else.



As the SIHH is based in Geneva and so is Roger Dubuis, let´s have a look behind the scene.

Let´s start like this …

Quite a few are in the pipeline … not ready for delivery, yet.

Still some steps are missing …

Can´t show you all the details/steps, but wanted to provide an insight. Hope you are still with me and waiting for the final product

Official pictures first:



Case: 44mm; titanium
Strap: Black rubber
Water resistance: 10 BAR (100 m)
Production: No limitation

Pictures from the fair … and personal comments …

Can you see the Geneva Seal?

The skeleton movement provides a transparence that I like a lot. The tourbillon is highlighted very well. The readability of the watch is good, even when skeletonized.



The logo is shown on the crown and insight the rubber strap. The details of the case and strap are well done and both feel good.

Already mentioned it above, but again – the rubber strap looks nice, feels robust and smooth at the same time.

Conclusion: If somebody has the extra money for such a “sports” watch, it is a well done “toy”. It is not too flashy, but shows cool details and on top it feels good on the wrist.


The new Pulsion collection still shows Roger Dubuis DNA, is an interesting addition to the whole collection and from my personal point of view much more pleasing than the former Easy Diver´s.

End of part I

This message has been edited by Jester on 2012-02-11 09:20:39