{"id":117908,"date":"2021-01-15T22:17:10","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T14:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revolution.watch\/?p=117908"},"modified":"2024-04-17T07:26:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-16T23:26:41","slug":"the-story-of-early-roger-dubuis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revolutionwatch.com\/the-story-of-early-roger-dubuis\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of Early Roger Dubuis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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 Besan\u00e7on. 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 \u201cHommage\u201d implies, was heavily inspired by the Patek Philippe reference 130 as well as the reference 1463. As we recently did an in-depth story<\/u><\/a> on the complete history of the Lemania Chronograph Calibre 2310, 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 true master work of design. Because it is specifically in the 40 mm H40 reference that you find Roger Dubuis\u2019 Breguet numeral dials which are possibly the most beautiful modern chronograph dials in recent memory.<\/p>\n

Says Auro Montanari aka John Goldberger author of Patek Philippe Steel Watches, \u201cFor modern chronograph design the Roger Dubuis with Breguet numerals is one of the best.\u201d These dials are strongly inspired by the highly coveted Breguet numerals dials found in the reference 130 and 1463. Says Montanari, \u201cSure the inspiration is clear. But Dubuis didn\u2019t just copy them he elevated the design language of the dials with beautiful touches such as applied dots for the minutes.\u201d Also unique is Dubuis combination of applied Breguet 12, 5, 6 and 7 indexes with thick applied pointed stick indexes. Says Montanari, \u2018Also look at the fonts that he chose for the tachymeter and the subdials, the twisting guilloch\u00e9 and other patterns as well as the highly stylised leaf hands; everything had a slightly more Latin, expressive charm but very importantly without being Baroque.\u201d
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Close up of the applied Breguet numerals on Wei Koh\u2019s H40 (Image: Tom Chng).<\/p><\/div>

It was as if Patek had introduced you to a charismatic sexy cousin, which was clearly Dubuis\u2019 intent. Says Montanari, \u201cIndeed, the Hommage chronographs feature pushers that are almost identical to those found on the Tasti Tondi right down to their fluted decoration and priapically domed shape. The thick case with integrated lugs and concave bezel, and of course the screw down caseback are all also extremely reminiscent of the Tasti Tondi. For those with an eye toward collecting these watches, it should be noted that the Breguet Numeral dials only appear in the reference H40, which is a pity because a 37 mm case with a Breguet dial would be a dream come true.<\/p>\n

For me A Collected Man has become the place to source one of these amazing watches and I would also like to applaud them for the wonderful work in documenting the history of these wonderful timepieces. So without further ado let\u2019s get into this story!<\/p>\n

Roger Dubuis, From Watchmaker To Brand<\/h5>\n

Roger Dubuis was, first and foremost, a watchmaker. Having spent nine years at Longines starting in the late 1950s, he worked in the after-sales department where he repaired and cared for their deeply respected chronographs.<\/p>\n

Then moving on to Patek Philippe where he stayed for the best part of two decades, working alongside the likes of Svend Andersen in the complications department. Constructing the maison\u2019s finest and most complex watch movements, specialising in the construction of gongs, minute repeaters and perpetual calendars. Building a reputation as one of the finest watchmakers in Geneva, if not the world.
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Roger spent a large part of his career at Patek Philippe. This would create a fundamental impression on him and his work in later years.<\/p><\/div>

He had such a passion for his job that when he had finished working a full day at the atelier, he would go home and work on fixing watches for private clients and some of the shops around Geneva who didn\u2019t possess the expertise that Dubuis had, quite literally, at his fingertips. In the 1980s, he left Patek Philippe to carry on this work and set up his own workshop, extending his client list to include auction houses and watch brands. This is when he started to develop his own modules and movements. The first of which was a retrograde perpetual calendar module that could sit atop a Lemania movement, like so many Patek Philippe watches he had helped construct and maintain over the past two decades.<\/p>\n

Dubuis developed this module with Jean-Marc Wiederrecht (founder of retrospective complication specialist Agenhor) for Harry Winston, who would later announce their own version of a biretrograde perpetual calendar at Baselworld in 1989. This was the first time the world had seen this complication in a wristwatch, one which Patek Philippe themselves, the master of complicated watchmaking at the time, had never put on the wrist. Perhaps Dubuis was now properly showing what he could do, intentionally attempting to one up the historic watch house. The parallels with other notable independent watchmakers, who started their careers in restoration then complex movement design, is not lost on us. A notable example is of course Fran\u00e7ois-Paul Journe, who worked as a freelance movement designer before setting up his own manufacture.
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One of Roger Dubuis\u2019 first technical achievements was the creation of the world\u2019s first bi-retrograde perpetual calendar in collaboration with Jean-Marc Wiederrecht in 1989.<\/p><\/div>

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A Roger Dubuis Bi-Retrograde Calendar Chronograph (ref. H40 560) from the 2000s.<\/p><\/div>

Shortly after, a chance encounter would take place that would change Dubuis\u2019 life for good when he first met Carlos Dias: the enigmatic businessman and watch designer who would team up with Dubuis to help him form his eponymous brand. As many collectors know, when the company first started producing watches in 1995, they were executed with aesthetic cues and techniques that Dubuis had mastered over his years at Patek Philippe.<\/p>\n

First producing two lines, the Hommage and Sympathie series, each housing Roger Dubuis\u2019 in-house calibres with time only, chronograph and perpetual calendars on display. It\u2019s these early models that we\u2019re choosing to focus on in this article, as they have garnered most interest from the collecting community to date. In particular, his two-register chronographs have become highly sought after in recent times. We also believe that they truly demonstrate Dubuis\u2019 style and masterful technique to the full, as some of early pieces would have been built and regulated by the man himself.<\/p>\n

Based on the legendary Lemania 2310, the Roger Dubuis chronograph calibres built on a very strong foundation, as this is the \u00e9bauche famously used in many notable Patek Philippe calibres of the past. Integrating this \u00e9bauche and finishing their movements to an impressive level of finesse and accuracy, every piece produced earned the Poin\u00e7on de Gen\u00e8ve, or the Geneva Seal, as well as being certified by the Besan\u00e7on Observatory. Something that only Patek Philippe was achieving at the time. We will go into more detail on both of these certifications below.<\/p>\n

We spoke with a cross section of people who knew Roger Dubuis prior to his death in 2017, whether it was while he was working at Patek Philippe or from when they ordered some of his early models from him at SIHH as a retailer. Crucially, they all agreed on how humble, knowledgeable and fastidious the man was, with an utmost respect for his work and how he approached watch making.<\/p>\n

A man whose respect for Roger Dubuis predates the brand is our recent interviewee, Dr Helmut Crott, who knew Dubuis while he was at Patek Philippe and sympathises with him when it came to running a watch brand after his own experiences with Urban J\u00fcrgensen. \u201cI knew it was a hard job, but when they started it in 1995 that was really the best time to be starting a new brand in my opinion.\u201d And Dr Crott was right, as the brand grew to an impressive size in the matter of a decade.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to tell whether the young brand was extremely popular when it started or just disorganised, as when Mikael Wallhagen, now Head of the Watch Department at Sotheby\u2019s in Geneva, placed an order with Roger Dubuis at SIHH in 1998 for 25 watches that never appeared. \u201cSix months later we were back in the shop in Sweden and hadn\u2019t seen any watches arrive. We chased them up and they said they didn\u2019t have our watches as they can\u2019t make enough. We never did get them in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

And getting hold of them now can be just as tricky, \u201cIn the three years I\u2019ve been at Sotheby\u2019s I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve had one come through our doors. They are mainly changing hands privately as there are just so few on the market.\u201d Wallhagen even has friends wanting to buy his Hommage Chronograph right off his wrist, not to mention all of the collectors and dealers who see him wearing it at auctions and make him an offer right there on the spot. There is a good reason why there are so few on the market, because so few were made. It is said that Dubuis originally only wanted to make 26 of each variant but Carlos Dias stepped in and demanded that 28 were made, as that would market a lot better in the Asian arena. Although it is also possible that they produced 28 as it was a variation on 208, Dubuis\u2019 resignation number from the \u00c9cole d\u2019Horlogerie de Gen\u00e8ve.<\/p>\n

So, the most you will ever be able to find of one type of early Roger Dubuis is just 28, although there are a few that were made as unique pieces as well. As Wallhagen found out when he took an early Roger Dubuis he\u2019d bought from a dealer in New York to the manufacture and showed it to Dubuis himself, who remembered the model exactly and told him they made it in four different dials and four different cases but there was only one example of each.<\/p>\n

That wasn\u2019t the only time that Dubuis\u2019 vast and extensive knowledge of his work has been proven, as Dr Helmut Crott told us about the time he bought what he thought was a rare Patek Philippe in America, but having no idea what he exactly had. This was before the days of readily accessible source material and biographies on the manufacture. So, he took it to Dubuis while he was still working at Patek Philippe, who announced \u201cHelmut, I remember very well that we only made three of these.\u201d This was about a decade after the watches left the manufacture.<\/p>\n

From having a \u201chole in the wall\u201d stand at SIHH in 1998, as Wallhagen described it, to employing over 450 people generating about CHF100M of revenue a year. The brand\u2019s expansion has been astronomical since their early days and limited production runs. But it seems that these low numbers are now spurring on the second-hand market. Jason Singer, a well-renowned collector of early bubblebacks, important Patek Philippe\u2019s and now early Roger Dubuis echoes this sentiment, \u201cI look for them every day online but they\u2019re becoming really tricky to find. I often miss out on them by a couple of hours, if that.\u201d
\nHowever, while there is no lack of demand for these watches in the market, we feel like there is little reliable and trustworthy information out there on these early Roger Dubuis models. As such, we have pooled all of our resources from our experience handling Roger Dubuis pieces and information from credible sellers such as auction houses to create this reference point for some of the most sought-after early Roger Dubuis pieces.<\/p>\n

The Hommage Chronograph<\/h5>\n

Roger Dubuis launched in 1995 with orders from retailers being placed quickly after that. This palladium chronograph is the earliest example we could find, with paperwork stamped 22nd November 1996. Another example we had passed through our hands was stamped 11 December 1996, coming to us directly from the retailer who kept this piece aside from the very first order they placed with the brand. These early, often untouched, examples offer a unique insight into what Dubuis wanted to do with these watches. In fact, when you sit one next to a Patek Philippe 130, the design codes that the Hommage inherits are obvious.<\/p>\n

H34 came in three configurations, two with Sector dials and applied Arabic indexes and one version with a Sector dial and painted luminous Arabic numerals and hands.<\/p>\n

H37 came in six versions, three with Sector dials with Applied Arabic indexes, with printed Roman Numerals and two with luminous Arabic indexes.<\/p>\n

H40 came in 14 dial versions, nine with applied Breguet indexes and five with applied Arabic indexes. None of these were sector dials. This dial would eventually become a playground for colour and dial decorations and represent some of the most inventive dials in modern watchmaking.<\/p>\n

As we already know, Dubuis learned the fine arts of watchmaking at Patek Philippe and on starting his own brand he intended to pay tribute to the craft and in particular the Gen\u00e8ve style so often associated with historic manufacture. That\u2019s why these Hommage chronographs came with so many dial variations, using guilloch\u00e9, applied Breguet numerals and lacquer to great effect. Part of the allure of collecting these watches is in discovering new dial variations, with everything from salmon dials to Pulsometer chronograph scales out there for those who look hard enough.
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The H34 and H37 came with Sectors or Scientific Dials clearly influenced by the Patek reference 130. There is only one H37 reference from 1998 that does not use a Sector dial and has Roman numerals and sword hands.<\/p><\/div>

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Collector and founder of the Singapore Watch Club Tom Chng, owns this beautiful and rare version of the H34 with Sector dial and painted luminous Arabic numerals and hands<\/p><\/div>

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The rose gold H40 with Arabic numerals, skeleton feuille hands and an ultramarine blue lacquer dial with perlage pattern belonging to collector David Lim.<\/p><\/div>

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Michael Tay\u2019s white gold H40 with Breguet numerals, skeleton feuille hands and a salmon dial.<\/p><\/div>

Some fundamental rules one should be aware of about these early Hommage chronographs. The cases for these came in 40, 37 and 34 millimetres and were only ever executed in precious metals, with examples found in palladium, white gold, rose gold and platinum. This is a rather traditional approach, as Dubuis erred away from more common or industrial metals such as stainless steel and titanium. Not to mention the traditional sizing with nothing over 40mm, which for some is still considered on the larger side for a classic wristwatch.<\/div>
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The reference H40 was equally split between seven monopusher versions and seven two-pusher references. Note that Roger Dubuis was the only brand creating a Lemania 2310-based monopusher chronograph during this period. While the monopusher is perhaps more unique, because of its strong association with the Patek 1463 Tasti Tondi, we love the two-pusher version.<\/p><\/div>

There are also different pusher configurations found throughout the Hommage Chronographs, with a regular (or two button) layout, monopusher at two o\u2019clock layout and a monopusher at three o\u2019clock (within the winding crown). Hommage Chronographs with the pusher integrated into the winding crown were made in 40mm and 37mm cases, with the monopusher at two o\u2019clock only appearing in a 40mm case. Interestingly, evidence suggests that variants of the H40 with the monopusher at two o\u2019clock were limited to 19 examples, instead of 28. Examples are known in rose gold, white gold and palladium. They also integrate a different calibre (cal. 50), which appears to share the same movement architecture as the Omega Calibre 33.3.<\/div>
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Roger Dubuis made the Hommage chronograph in 3 different sizes 34mm, 37m and 40mm. Note that there are specific dials used for specific cases. 34mm and 37mm (H34 and H37mm) respectively use Sector or Scientific Dials influenced by the Patek reference 130 in design.<\/p><\/div>

Below is a table of every publicly known configuration of Roger Dubuis Hommage Chronograph which has come to the market. For the purposes of reliable information, this draws upon watches having come up at A Collected Man and the three major watch auction houses (Sotheby\u2019s, Christie\u2019s and Antiquorum), with duplicates having been removed. We hope this acts as a glimpse into the many interesting and varied configurations in which the Hommage Chronograph was executed<\/div>
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