The Story of Early Roger Dubuis
From 1995-2003 Roger Dubuis created some of the most beautiful chronographs the world has ever known under the Hommage family which also included non-chronograph models. These watches received the Geneva Seal and were certified as chronometers at the Observatory in Besançon. Today they have become some of the fastest rising collectable modern vintage watches. Much of this has to do with their design which, as the name “Hommage” implies, was heavily inspired by the Patek Philippe reference 130 as well as the reference 1463. As this issue of Revolution is dedicated to these two Patek references I saw wonderful synergy in including this excellent article created by A Collected Man here so that comparison could be made between the Patek Philippe and Roger Dubuis watches.
The Hommage was made in three different sizes: the 34mm H34, the 37mm H37 and the 40mm H40. The H34 and H37 took considerable inspiration from the Sector of Scientific dial Patek Reference 130s. You can turn to page 66 to see how closely the Roger Dubuis watches resemble these. But it is the reference H40 that I consider to be Roger Dubuis’ true master work of design. Because it is specifically in the 40 mm H40 reference that you find Roger Dubuis’ Breguet numeral dials which are possibly the most beautiful modern chronograph dials in recent memory.
Says Auro Montanari aka John Goldberger author of Patek Philippe Steel Watches, “For modern chronograph design the Roger Dubuis with Breguet numerals is one of the best.” These dials are strongly inspired by the highly coveted Breguet numerals dials found in the reference 130 and 1463. Says Montanari, “Sure the inspiration is clear. But Dubuis didn’t just copy them he elevated the design language of the dials with beautiful touches such as applied dots for the minutes.” Also unique is Dubuis combination of applied Breguet 12, 5, 6 and 7 indexes with thick applied pointed stick indexes. Says Montanari, ‘Also look at the fonts that he chose for the tachymeter and the subdials, the twisting guilloché and other patterns as well as the highly stylised leaf hands; everything had a a slightly more Latin, expressive charm but very importantly without being Baroque.”
It was as if Patek had introduced you to a charismatic sexy cousin, which was
