The Roger Dubuis Knights of the Round Table, the Omniscient Merlin

Intro

Some legends are timeless, and the one telling the story of Merlin, King Arthur, and the Knights of the Round Table is among them. This legend has captured generations of people, including jewellery and watch collectors.

The new chapter of Roger Dubuis’ The Knights of the Round Table takes to the next level, telling a story ahead of King Arthur’s crowning, whose nod is the Giant’s Causeway, a rock formation in Northern Ireland made up of some forty-thousand basaltic stone columns featuring a regular, primarily hexagonal base.

It is a jaw-dropping natural site that emerged about sixty million years ago from the deep sea once the American and European continents split. The site has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986, but the legend behind the Causeway is even more attractive.

Amidst Science and Legend

The story goes that Merlin, attracted by the beauty of the Giant’s Causeway, used his power to take it to the Salisbury Plain in England and build Stonehenge. The Causeway thus stands as the centre stage of Roger Dubuis’ latest creation, with the knights arranged in a circle on their marks to cross it. It is an unexpected yet powerful scenario triggering, at first glance, a bold contrast between a knight’s classic look and the rigorous geometry of the Causeway.

The new Roger Dubuis Knights of the Round Table, the Omniscient Merlin, exclusively houses the hexagonal-based prisms from the actual structure, whose heights differ.

The dial is a rose gold disc, drilled and extensively black PVD treated. Some sections are drilled while others undergo a sunburst motif decoration; others, again, undergo a matte treatment instead. Let me highlight a key feature: the watch is a two-tone black and 18k rose gold, boasting different surface treatments.

A miniature Giant’s Causeway

Roger Dubuis’s artisans painstakingly reproduced the scene. The basaltic construction houses 56 columns and four different coatings/treatments. Measuring from 0.2 mm to 3.7 mm, the columns are made of rose gold, basalt, Murano, and transparent glass, with basaltic ones covering the majority. There are 28 hexagonal blocks of basalt in total. Nine are solid gold (and mirror polished), ten are Murano, and nine are glass.

The outcome is a combination of matte to shiny tones and transparent elements, creating a three-dimensional scenery whose contrasting elements surprise the twelve knights with their swords out of the covers in an attempt to attack or defend from a menace. It embodies a new meaning compared to the traditional scenario.

The knights follow a rigorous production process that begins with a manual phase, moves through a digital phase, and culminates in an artisanal one.

From the first sketches, the designers move to resin prototyping and 3D scanning to build micro moulds accurate enough to manufacture tiny elements measuring up to 6 mm in height yet rich in details. They are then ready for the ultimate finish, which involves engravings and decorations by master artisans.

Case and movement

The case is bold, measuring 45 mm in diameter and 16.87 mm in height—not that large if we consider a knight’s height. A sapphire crystal helps improve roominess and, from the looks of things, provides a three-dimensional layout.

A mid-case glass ring lets you appreciate the hexagonal prisms’ inclined surface and a smaller, similar one sits amidst the crown. The build and black-to-rose gold tones remind the Orbis In Machina, whose main difference is the crown-protecting guards in the shape of the sword guard.

The Roger Dubuis Knights of the Round Table, the Omniscient Merlin is powered by the Monobalancier RD821 movement, beating at 4 Hertz with a 48-hour power reserve. It stands out for fourteen different finishes, which ensure the Geneva Hallmark, a standard requirement on any Roger Dubuis watch, and for the winding mass inspired by a medieval castle’s window.

The following phrase appears around the see-through case-back’s ring: “Around this table, the bravest knights will gather as equals. They will set forth in search of adventure, righting wrongs, protecting the weak and humbling the proud.”

Final thoughts

Roger Dubuis will craft 28 examples of the Knights of the Round Table, the Omniscient Merlin. We leave up to the reader any personal judgment regarding its design versus any previous edition. Let me underline the product’s evolution and a style that sets it apart from any baroque touch seen in older executions.

The contrast between the knights’ classic silhouette and the rigorous geometric pattern makes the Knights of the Round Table more contemporary and on par with the design language introduced with the Orbis in Machina.

(Photo credit: Roger Dubuis)

Giovanni Maria Di Biase @Horbiter®