NICOLA ANDREATTA OF ROGER DUBUIS

Roger Dubuis founded his eponymous watch brand in 1995. Since its inception, the Maison has gained a reputation for its nonconformist designs and unimpeachable craftsmanship. Later, in 2008, Richemont Group acquired part of the company’s equity and thereafter, in 2016, purchased the remaining shares.

The venerable Manufacture is located in Meyrin, a suburb of Geneva. In 1999, four years after Roger Dubuis was formed it produced its first in-house movement. These calibres were marked with the prestigious Poinçon de Genève. Today, the Swiss marque produces all of its movements in-house and many of its watches bear the coveted Seal of Geneva (the Poinçon de Genève now relates to the whole of a watch not just its movement).

Over the years, Roger Dubuis’ portfolio has encompassed a number of diverse collections, including the Easydiver, Kingsquare, Goldensquare, La Monégasque and Pulsion. These aforementioned collections have subsequently disappeared from view, allowing the Maison to focus primarily upon its star collection, the Excalibur. Roger Dubuis also offers the Velvet collection, a range of feminine timepieces that are wonderfully enlivened with numerous twinkling gems.

Throughout its history, the Manufacture has crafted time only watches as well as complicated timepieces, including world timers, perpetual calendars and chronographs. However, today, the brand is best known for making skeleton watches, flying tourbillons and minute repeaters.

In common with other practitioners of Haute Horlogerie, Roger Dubuis produces watches in various noble metals. However, it has also embraced hi-tech materials such as black DLC titanium, EON gold and Cobalt CarTech Micro-Melt BioDur CCMTM. Indeed, one aspect that sits at the heart of the Roger Dubuis paradigm is that it never subscribes to convention and it never stops pursuing ways of challenging the watch buying public with its notion of ‘disruptive’ horology.

Recently, I was granted the opportunity to ask Nicola Andreatta, CEO of Roger Dubuis, a series of questions. I was particularly interested in learning not just about the watch brand and its products, but also its mindset and the thinking behind the firm’s affection for ‘Hyper Horology’.

How would you define the Roger Dubuis brand?

Roger Dubuis is not only a brand, it is a way of living, a mindset; it is the most exciting way to experience ‘Hyper Horology’, our expressive and contemporary interpretation of ‘Haute Horlogerie’. We open a door to the future while taking inspiration from the traditional art of watchmaking, furthering our offer with creativity, innovation and a touch of extravagance.

The Manufacture is based in Geneva. How important is that?

Geneva has been at the centre of watchmaking history since the 16th century, giving birth to some of the most prestigious watch brands in the world. Our Maison was founded in Geneva, taking advantage of its rich watchmaking heritage and utilising the talents of the incredibly skilled men and women in the region and their ‘métiers’. This is demonstrated with our continuous collaboration with the Poinçon de Genève, the Geneva Seal, a Genevan institution. Moreover, this provides a unique blend of quality and manufacturing standards that must be applied when crafting our watches. We are proudly rooted in Geneva and we could not exist elsewhere.

Which components are made in-house?

We pride ourselves in being a fully integrated Manufacture, meaning that we produce all the watch components ‘in-house’. Our quest for excellence, our obsession with quality and the complexity of our creations could not be outsourced. Today, we have full control of every manufacturing process.

Those handful of brands that make watches marked with the Poinçon de Genève are comparatively traditional. However, Roger Dubuis frequently works with cutting-edge materials and employs innovative finishing techniques. Does this avant-garde approach to watchmaking present any challenges when seeking approval from the Poinçon de Genève office?

The Poinçon de Genève was created in 1886, and Roger Dubuis has been collaborating with this institution since the early days of the company. I talk about ‘collaboration’ because in fact we like to challenge the rules of the game and we are constantly in discussion with the Institution. Our cutting-edge technology, together with the disruptive and innovative materials that we have introduced in the last few years, had to be ‘endorsed’ by the Poinçon de Genève, ensuring we respected traditions while offering unprecedented and spectacular features within our timepieces.

Roger Dubuis is synonymous with the flying tourbillon and double flying tourbillon. The Maison’s collection also includes a minute repeater. Do you envisage releasing additional complications in the future?

Since 2005, the architectural approach to our skeletonised calibres has become our signature. But our prosperity is unprecedented; in 26 years of history, Roger Dubuis has launched more than 40 proprietary calibres.

Today, we proudly master all complications. Many models uphold our obsession for regulating organs, as in the recent relaunch of our iconic Excalibur in both single and double flying tourbillon executions, but also through the reinterpretation of classic complications, such as with our ‘Diabolus in Machina’; a minute repeater automatic flying tourbillon, which we released in 2020. Our engineers and watchmakers are constantly working on disrupting the world of watchmaking with our innovations, from both a technical and an aesthetic standpoint.

A few years ago, Roger Dubuis had a diverse portfolio of models including La Monegasque and the Pulsion. Today, the brand seems to focus primarily on the Excalibur collection. Can you explain the reason for this?

Excalibur, in all its executions, perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the Maison: big, bold, excessive, yet sophisticated and iconic. In fact, it provides the best vehicle to explore and develop our creativity. Thinking about the limited quantities we produce every year, it made no sense, at the time, to promote several different collections. Excalibur allowed us to concentrate on our icon, perfecting it throughout the years.

Like Roger Dubuis, some avant-garde watch brands embrace bold styling, however, they lack the same high-end finishing and technical refinements. How do you convey the superiority of the brand’s products?

Roger Dubuis’ uniqueness lies in the creativity of its designers and engineers, as well as the skilled hands of the company’s watchmakers. The Poinçon de Genève provides a good way of certifying this level of refinement, albeit not everyone is able to appreciate the level of complexity and attention to detail this requires. This is why we love to invite our most demanding clients to visit our Manufacture. Most of the time the visit represents a breakthrough experience, especially if they have visited other Manufactures, as they finally understand how we are different.

The term Haute Horlogerie will be familiar to most watch aficionados. However, Roger Dubuis has coined the phrase, ‘Hyper Horology’. How would you define this?

We love to say that our heritage is the future and we always look forward to the way we think our watchmaking approach should evolve, never following and primarily leading the field. One clear example is today’s popularity of skeletonised calibres. At Roger Dubuis we started fifteen years ago and now everybody is following. This is consistent with our concept of Hyper Horology. ‘Haute Horlogerie’ evokes thoughts of the traditional world of watchmaking and its players but it dramatically fails to embody our forward-looking, expressive and contemporary approach to horology. In fact, ‘hyper’ is a prefix that originates from ancient Greece, meaning to go above, over, beyond, and therefore it perfectly represents the attitude of our Maison.

Looking at the Roger Dubuis website and press materials, terms such as ‘trouble makers’, ‘disruptive’, ‘excessive’, ‘impertinent’ and ‘extravagant’ are frequently employed. Ordinarily, society would view such traits in a negative light. Why is this vocabulary appropriate for Roger Dubuis?

I have to say that we are extremely proud to be a brand with a polarising attitude and we like to be considered the ‘enfant terrible’ of the Haute Horlogerie! The words you mention are the direct expression of our philosophy. We are excessive in the fact that we always aim to go above and beyond and we are extravagant because we are not ordinary. Like the glass, half full or half empty… these words resonate with a tribe of incredible individuals who choose to be larger than life and enjoy life to the ‘max’, standing out from the crowd. ‘Pleasure’, ‘madness’ and ‘freedom’ are the three words that perfectly convey our desire to remain excessive.

Roger Dubuis enjoys partnerships with Lamborghini and Pirelli. Can you explain the benefits these partnerships provide? For example, is there a technology transfer between Roger Dubuis and its partners?

For several years we have worked with these very famous names from the field of motorsport. The strategic decision to work with these partners has been anything but casual. We do share common values, from the will to continue innovating to the daring attitude, it has been a natural association of firms who represent excellence in their respective industries. Indeed, the partnership provides a platform for constant exchanges relating to design and technology as well as providing opportunities to organise incredible, adrenaline-filled experiences for our tribe.

Does Roger Dubuis make bespoke, one of a kind creations?

We created a specific program, called ‘Rarities’, which is dedicated to our most discerning and sophisticated clients, those who look for something unique and specifically made for them. Every timepiece in our collection can be customised to the client’s own specification. But a rarity can be so much more than that. We often use our Rarities to launch breakthrough innovations and ‘world premieres’ which could not be produced in quantities. The brand’s ‘Q-Lab’, our new innovation laboratory, will soon be ready. This will allow us to welcome our clients to the heart of our Manufacture and provide the means of taking them on an exciting journey, experiencing the creativity and inventive facets of the Roger Dubuis brand.