News
Introducing the Excalibur Spider Unique Series Minute Repeater
News
Introducing the Excalibur Spider Unique Series Minute Repeater
“The minute repeater is a very important complication for Roger Dubuis,” Bruttin begins. “In fact, it was a very important complication for Mr Dubuis himself. Its mastery is an integral part of our legitimacy in the world of high watchmaking. This is why it was important that we should continue to practice executing the complication, but in a way that would make sense for the brand we are today.”
But to think of the minute repeater in the watchmaking language that Roger Dubuis has developed for itself today, it is — to put it subtly — counterintuitive. So why produce such a timepiece, and as a unique piece?
“The story of the Excalibur Spider Unique Series minute repeater is quite a funny one,” recounts Bruttin. “I was with my team after a trip in Asia, sharing about wanting to do a very modern interpretation of the minute repeater.
“We knew that we wanted it to be an Excalibur Spider and that we wanted it have a carbon case. Once the initial designs were done, I took the drawings to show to some people I know who would be brutally honest with their thoughts about what I was going to show them.
“Because to put a minute repeater in a carbon case — sure this has been done by some others in the industry before — but to do so in an aesthetic that is as aggressive as the Spider, I really wondered what people would have to say about it. Lo and behold, everyone whom I showed the drawings to, basically said to me, ‘you are stupid, no one is going to be interested in this.’
“I said thank you to everyone for their feedback. Because yes, no one in the industry would take on such a mash-up; it didn’t make sense at all. It’s not for everyone. But for the Roger Dubuis enthusiast, those individuals who are in search of the extraordinary and completely counterintuitive, this is it.”
The Excalibur Spider Unique Series minute repeater is a 47mm carbon case timepiece powered by the RD107 caliber made automatic using 2 micro rotors. Bruttin explains that by opting for two smaller rotors, the intention here was to create an unobstructed view of the gongs and hammers of the minute repeater complication, through the case back.
For efforts such as these, the point of success can be defined in considering whether or not the brand struggles to find this unique buyer they have in mind. On that note, Bruttin shares that while at launch we got to see the Excalibur Spider Unique Series minute repeater with the green accents, the one that was actually intended was one with red accents. The reason why they had to switch to the green version was because a Roger Dubuis customer had already spoken for the red one.
Movement
Self-winding RD107 Caliber with twin micro-rotors; hours and minutes; flying minute tourbillon; minute repeater; function selector at 3 o’clock, chiming indicator at 10 o’clock, “All or Nothing” indicator at 8 o’clock; 72-hour power reserve
Case
47mm in SMC carbon; water resistant to 50m
Strap
Black rubber base and black RubberTech inlay with titanium black DLC, adjustable folding buckle
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