P o c k e t W at c h e s
Roger Dubuis
To mark its 20th anniversary, Roger Dubuis
has launched a unique restoration project
entirely dedicated to its Hommage collection: Millésime. As the name implies, it will
mark each year with a special “vintage” in
the form of a singular creation. Each will embody a wealth of restoration work on some
of the most exquisite watch movements
from the 19th Century that will be restored
using historic crafts and upgraded to meet
21st century Poinçon de Genève specifications. Each reborn caliber will incorporate a
perpetual calendar - either alone or joined
by one or more sophisticated horological
complications. The movement restored and
upgraded/updated in the Roger Dubuis RD
181 was originally fabricated in the 1800s
by the esteemed house of Jaeger LeCoultre
– one of only two manufacturers that Roger
Dubuis will cultivate for the Millesime collection, Audemars Piguet being the other. Now
restored and reborn, the amazing caliber RD
181 is once again functioning as designed
with a dual retrograde perpetual calendar,
an on-demand minute repeater, and on
top of all that a 60-minute single button
chronograph. A singular piece of this caliber
demands a singular price at $892,500.
Five hundred and ninety components; 113
jewels, 5 differential systems and 4 flying
tourbillon escapements do little more than
mark the time on the Roger Dubuis Spider
Pocket Watch. No celestial equations or
moon-phases, no perp calendars, chronographs or minute repeater to sound the
time - just the simple display of time (and
a power reserve indicator.) Dubuis’ Spider
and the caliber RD 101 within take the
multi-tourbillon complicated for the sake of
it to the next level. Although there is little
extra information needing your attention on
the dial, four twirling tourbs will be enough
for the affluent collector to be enthralled
and will mesmerize those lucky few able to
own one for the substantial investment of
$468,500.
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Wristwatch | 2016