Sunday November 8, 2009
Bold, innovative luxury
By DZIREENA MAHADZIR
Here’s a peek into the exclusive, innovative and complicated world of Roger Dubuis.
LUXURY watch brand manufacture Roger Dubuis, known for its innovative mechanical watches, is relatively “young’’ compared to most of other watch houses that come under the Richemont group.
This group is one of the world’s leading players in the luxury industry and it acquired a controlling interest in the manufacture last August.
Jean Sebastien Berland The man behind the brand is Roger Dubuis, a watchmaker who developed complications for luxury watch brand Patek Philippe for 14 years. He set up his own atelier in 1980 and later joined forces with Carlos Dias to launch the brand Roger Dubuis in 1995 (it was originally called Sogem SA).
Dias was the founder, owner and designer of the brand, and it launched its first watches in 1999.
Dias left the company last August and the new CEO is Matthias Schuler (previously COO of IWC, another brand also under Richemont).
Recently, Jean-Sebastien Berland, managing director for Roger Dubuis Asia Pacific, was in Kuala Lumpur and spoke about recent developments for the brand.
“Richemont has always been respectful of the identity of a brand. There were not that many changes in terms of haute horlogerie, and no major changes in products (when it took over).
The Excalibur Double Tourbillon Skeleton. “In terms of distribution, communications and marketing, we had various agents around region, but under Richemont, we set up local structures to communicate directly. So we are now talking directly to clients and journalists about our watches,” Berland says.
He says its product philosophy complies with the four principles of the brand: Innovative design, staying current, exclusivity and high-end technical know-how.
This is the only brand with a full catalogue of movements certified by the prestigious Poincon de Geneve. This authority is governed by the Republic and Canton of Geneva and is the only body entitled to grant the much-coveted Poincon de Geneve stamp on a movement.
The Roger Dubuis collections include the KingSquare, which has a distinctive square shape and a number of extremely sophisticated technical features. Excalibur, one of the icons of the brand, has showed off diverse complications since 2005, and these include triple time-zone displays, minute repeaters and flying tourbillons.
EasyDiver is a sporty line that combines technical performances with an urban touch.
This year’s collection showcases new models within the existing collections. From Excalibur comes the Double Tourbillon Skeleton. The Double Tourbillon is an extremely popular model and the newest watch offers a sculptural version of previous top sellers.
The KingSquare Column-wheel Chronograph. “We redesigned the movement in order to streamline it, so it’s very graphic, very visual and very much the characteristic of Roger Dubuis’ beautiful movements,” Berland says.
Also under the Excalibur is the Flying Tourbillon, which has a 42mm diameter case.
From the KingSquare collection comes the Column-wheel Chronograph and for the ladies, there is a feminine version of the EasyDiver, which also comes in a jewellery version.
Roger Dubuis is located on the Adorn Floor, Starhill Gallery, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.
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