How to celebrate three decades of audacity without honoring the providential man who made it possible to anchor the manufacture in time? With the Hommage La Placide watch, Roger Dubuis pays tribute to the talented eponymous watchmaker. More than a simple limited edition, this model embodies the very essence of the enthusiast who forged the brand’s unique identity.
The name of this timepiece, borrowed from Roger Dubuis’s childhood nickname, resonates like an intimate signature affixed to an exceptional work. A devotee of extreme meticulousness and creativity, he serenely and gently passed on his taste for excellence. In 2003, drawing on its expertise, the company thus became an independent manufacture capable of finalizing its own hairsprings and balance wheels.
Model after model, the accumulated technical expertise has continually created a fascinating dialogue with a singular aesthetic expression. One does not go without the other. This observation is found within the Hommage La Placide.
Its 38-millimeter rose gold case thus asserts a measured, almost classic elegance, which deliberately contrasts with a form of exuberance present on the dial. Yet the staging of temporal information proves to be of great subtlety.
The dial is revealed like a landscape in depth, built on several levels, in order to transform the reading of time into a visual experience. The Léman Blue of the main plate offers an intense setting for the mother-of-pearl elements, while the bi-retrograde display of the day and date of the perpetual calendar deploys its symmetrical and stylized arcs with choreographed precision. At 6 o’clock, the moon phases in blue aventurine introduce a graphic breathing space. Its stellar sparkles and terrestrial satellites in gold evoke a night sky.
This sophisticated scenography is orchestrated by the RD1472 calibre, assembled using 307 components, a fusion of two emblematic Roger Dubuis mechanisms, the RD14, the very first automatic movement unveiled in 2004, and the RD72, dedicated to the perpetual calendar.
This mechanism, revealed through the sapphire case back, reads the future. It knows, without error, until 2100, all the whims of the Gregorian calendar and specifies leap years.
The rule of three of Roger Dubuis
A bi-retrograde display
From its very beginnings, Roger Dubuis has been fond of this day and date display. In the late 1980s, he simplified and modernized it. A patent was filed in 1989. The first watch launched by the brand featured what would become one of the manufacture’s technical and aesthetic signatures. Behind its spectacular visual appearance lies an engineering feat designed to ensure perfect synchronization.
In-house movement
Conceived, developed, machined, adjusted, and assembled in-house! Every stage in the production of the calibres is carried out within the brand’s workshops. Innovation is paramount, with optimized gear trains, complex complications, and one or even multiple tourbillons. This ability to craft complete movements ensures design consistency and mastery of performance. Many of them are certified by the COSC.
Certified by the Poinçon de Genève
All the exclusive finishes of the Hommage La Placide watch, executed using more than fifteen traditional techniques, are recognized by the Poinçon de Genève (Geneva Seal). In general, the manufacture ensures that its entire production meets the demanding standards of the Geneva label.
Limited to twenty-eight pieces, the Hommage La Placide watch is intended not only for collectors in search of rarity, but also for all those who seek meaning in contemporary haute horlogerie. It tells a story—that of a founder, a vision, and an independent manufacture that continues to cultivate watchmaking with character, resolutely expressive.
