Intro
In a recent article celebrating Roger Dubuis’s 30th anniversary, we explored the brand’s history and some of its milestones: since its founding, under Roger Dubuis’s leadership, all the way to being purchased by Richemont, when the brand faced a full image and product overhaul.
Most recently, Roger Dubuis has consistently returned to its roots without abandoning its past achievements in design, quality, and technology.
The new Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph belongs to this process. It is an attempt to combine the best of two worlds: a hyper-tech product philosophy and the never-forgotten classic heritage.
The new Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph
Looking down on the case reveals it is unmistakably Excalibur Spider from any angle; the new watch thus extends the quintessentially sports collection it belongs to, encompassing the most traditional take on the flyback chronograph introduced at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The RD780 calibre powering the watch is a column-wheel-operated flyback chronograph (whose column wheel is on the dial’s side) with a vertical clutch. It stands out for its Hallmark of Geneva’s treatment as much as for an array of brilliant technical solutions.
For instance, the rotating chronograph minute counter at three runs on a 120-degree scale. On the outermost section, you will spot numbers from 0 to 9 to elapse up to ten minutes; placed in the middle is the rotating-tens counter instead.
A central chronograph hand completes the calculation once stopped, paired with the aforementioned chrono minutes counter. In brief, the chrono display is a combination of digital and analogue readings: digital for elapsed minutes and analogue for the seconds.
On the dial side, you’ll equally spot the 12-degree inclined balance wheel at nine. The watch also comes equipped with a no better specified (i.e., no further technical information is available) Second Braking System (SBS) device to improve the chrono hand’s stability further while starting, stopping and resetting the mechanism, compared to an ordinary column-wheel chronograph.
The Roger Dubuis RD780 movement houses two barrels, visible at twelve, storing as much as 72 hours of power reserve when fully wound. The RD780SQ variant powers the new reference, essentially the same mechanical movement, yet adopting different materials and finishes.
The case measures 45.00 mm in diameter and 17.13 mm thick, with the calibre measuring 10.70 mm in thickness. It comes for the first time in rose gold and titanium, joining a collection that originally included three models, all built from carbon fibre and titanium (with a DLC coating on the clasp).
It retains a water resistance up to 100 meters, but we have no clue about its weight, a relevant feat to compare this iteration with its siblings, given its extra-large size.
Final thoughts
Roger Dubuis will produce 88 pieces of the Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph, as usual, and I’m as pleased as surprised to see how different this edition is.
Built on gold and titanium, it enhances perceived quality and luxury like never before, proving that an ordinary material choice works with the sportiest Roger Dubuis design available, the Excalibur Spider.
Also, it provides the brand’s lovers and ultra-luxury and extreme sports watch fans alike, with a gold option fitting in more than any carbon fibre composite proposition.
While the latter offers an undeniable lightweight and easy-to-wear experience, this one stands as a more exclusive timepiece. The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph Rose Gold and Titanium retails for 142,500€.
(Photo credit: Roger Dubuis)
Gaetano C @Horbiter®
