Home » The Salon International De La Haute Horlogerie » SIHH 2016 Preview – Roger Dubuis Excalibur Skeleton Carbon and Hommage Millésime for NYC
At the last year’s SIHH 2015, Roger Dubuis unveiled the brand’s first non-tourbillon skeleton piece -the Excalibur Automatic Skeleton Watch. One year later, the Genevese watchmaker updated this model by coating its case in a brand-new gear that proves an ideal match for its avantgarde tech-watch approach.
The case of new Roger Dubuis Excalibur Skeleton Carbon Watch is coated with SMC, or carbon fibre sheet moulding compound, a lightweight material which is greatly appreciated in the aerospace industry. This ultra-light and extra-hard material boasts extremely high productivity and cost efficiency, whilst also enabling excellent part reproducibility and the possibility of treating parts with complex shapes and integrated functions. It is made by compressing carbon fibres with steel and resin moulded at very high temperatures, which is then reworked and compounded with resin.
Compared with the last year’s model that was dressed in a rose gold case, the latest iteration of the Excalibur Skeleton Carbon timepiece is much harder and lighter. The watch is housed in a 42mm round case and it features a fluted bezel and triple lugs.
The look through the front sapphire glass shows the inner beauty of the skeletonized caliber RD820SQ automatic movement which is equipped with an openworked version of the micro-rotor Roger Dubuis introduced in 2005. Despite the fact that it has been newly skeletonized, the rotor still provides the same winding power as its non-skeletonized brother, and both have the same winding power of the central rotor.
The open-worked dial also comprises Dauphine-type gold hands. Compared with the last year’s version, this newcomer features blackened gold hands with red-tips. There is also a vivid red minute track which rounds the dial.
Roger Dubuis Hommage Millésime for NYC
All visitors of the 26th edition SIHH which runs from January 18 to January 22, 2016 will also have the opportunity to see a unique piece that will be available in New York boutique in February. Roger Dubuis Hommage Millésime Watch features a bi-retrograde perpetual calendar flyback chronograph with a minute repeater.
There are no further technical details and information available yet, but if we may judge from the images, this exceptional timepiece boasts a spectacular dial with retrograde hands, blued chronograph hands and multiple sub-dials that mark many of the brand’s early designs.