A unique timepiece
Everyone knows that the devil is in the details. And because creative irreverence is a temptation that Roger Dubuis finds irresistible, Excalibur Diabolus in Machina pushes sophistication to breaking point, offering the members of the Roger Dubuis tribe a great experience. This new challenge combines technical prowess with aesthetic daring, those freedoms that only a production model can allow against the background of a stateof- the-art Manufacture providing the strength as the independence to develop a vision of Time that flies in the face of all existing conventions. In a sassy move within which manufacturing perfection bearing the Poinçon de Genève meets disruptive design, every effort has been made to ensure that Excalibur Diabolus in Machina is up there with the Haute Horlogerie experiences. Roger Dubuis thus has fun violating its own codes by allowing its star to literally implode, resulting in an design that brings harmony to opposites while aligning geometric rigour with chaos. Not one element of this de-structured neo-star is positioned on the same level.
A new take on the calibre
The story of Roger Dubuis cannot be told without mentioning the very finest horological complications, especially the highly sought-after minute repeater. The maestro himself, an exceptional watchmaker, designed the plans right at the start when the Manufacture was created. Today, this legacy has become a treasure and by integrating two watchmaking complications, Roger Dubuis demonstrates its expertise and passion for challenges. The difference lies in Roger Dubuis’ application of a futuristic approach to the minute repeater concept. Invented at a time when turning on a night light involved much more than flicking a switch, this horological complication is one of the most challenging to achieve. The wearer can check the time using a pushpiece that activates a ring tone with a low pitch for the hours, a high pitch for the minutes, and two tones for the quarter hours. Roger Dubuis, the watchmaker have not stopped there, preferring to add functions designed to make using the timepiece more fun. First, perched high at 11 o’clock is a disc that has been skilfully blended with a Roman numeral. Marked with the words Hours, Quarters and Minutes, the disc starts to turn as soon as the minute repeater is activated, illustrating the time intervals being chimed. To achieve this, the watchmakers have enriched this second visual indication with the minute repeater’s main feeler-spindle system, which requires mechanically seeking information on the time before striking it. Further proof of the nature of Roger Dubuis watchmakers, a second functional indicator – in the form of a lever placed between 3 o’clock and 4 o’clock – instantly lets the wearer know whether the watch is in “manual winding” or “time setting” position. This visual safety feature is important as adjusting the watch while the minute repeater is playing can damage the movement. Finally, one other function has been developed to make life easier for the user. This is the minute repeater’s pushpiece, which has been embellished with a mechanism called “all or nothing”. Allowing the minute repeater to be triggered if the pusher has been pushed, this second safety feature prevents the mechanism from being triggered or providing a partial indication of time. Roger Dubuis combines this major complication with its famous flying tourbillon, that has been a part of the brand’s identity right from the start, and which requires peerless skill and experience to assemble and fit. Designed to compensate for gravitational effects on the accuracy of a watch movement and the hands it drives, the tourbillon is a mechanical device enabling a watch to communicate with the great “master clock” of the universe.
Diabolus In Machina
Roger Dubuis has chosen, the famous “Diabolus in Musica” chord outlawed in medieval religious music, and found, for example, in Camille Saint-Saëns’s symphonic poem, Danse Macabre. This dissonance is also the secret to all clever and complex melodic harmony, music being the art that has chosen. Time as a backdrop against which to weave its spells and govern the laws of beauty. Tuned here to C and G flat, its tones are enhanced by the nobility of the materials through which they resound, offering listeners an enchantingly experience. A masterpiece representing the paradoxes of Time, a hedonistic invitation to “Carpe Diem”, and a poetic reminder of our fleeting condition, Excalibur Diabolus in Machina is much more than just a watch. It is a manifesto for a tribe of pioneering minds on an incessant quest to constantly reinvent their own game.
