Roger Dubuis celebrates its 30th anniversary with the Hommage La Placide, a revival and tribute to its traditional roots

Jamie Weiss

• For its 30th anniversary, Roger Dubuis pays tribute to its eponymous founder by reviving the Hommage collection, one of the brand’s inaugural collections, in a uniquely faithful way.
• It features a 38mm case more in line with the brand’s initial designs, housing a biretrograde perpetual calendar with moonphase – in short, a return to traditional Roger Dubuis.
• Powering this series of 28 watches are restored, new-old-stock RD14 automatic calibres with remanufactured RD72 perpetual calendar modules, combined to form the calibre RD1472.

Roger Dubuis is a brand that divides watch enthusiasts, largely because there’s such a significant divide between the timepieces that the Genevan watchmaker produced at its outset and those it produces now. There are common threads – a dedication to the Geneva Seal, a passion for insane complications, in-house manufacturing – but modern Roger Dubuis is a very different brand than old Roger Dubuis, and I know there are more than a few enthusiasts who wish for the brand to return to the sorts of watches it made in the 1990s and early 00s. “Just bring back the old stuff!”

Well, that’s exactly what Roger Dubuis has done with the Hommage La Placide – quite literally. Marking the brand’s 30th anniversary, the brand has brought back the Hommage collection in a more faithful way than its previous revival in 2014, with a watch that features a considered mix of original, remanufactured and totally new components.

When Roger Dubuis founded his eponymous brand back in 1995, he launched it with two collections: Sympathie, which featured a unique, highly distinctive cushion-shaped case with sharp corners that would become the brand’s signature shape; and Hommage, which, as the name implies, was Dubuis’ homage to the great watchmakers of old – especially Patek Philippe, where he worked for 14 years, and its 1950s-era chronographs.

This new Hommage La Placide, however, is a homage to Dubuis himself. Indeed, it’s named after Dubuis’ “Placide” nickname, which he received during his childhood days as a scout, emblematic of his calm, contemplative nature. It’s also a reference to the placid, azure waters of Lac Leman, the shores of which Dubuis viewed each day as a watchmaking student on the train journey between Geneva and Vevey. Anyone who’s been to Geneva knows how iconic and tranquil its lake is, and for a brand (and a man) that’s so Genevois, it’s a fitting source of inspiration. This manifests itself in the Hommage La Placide’s rich blue dial, which features a deeply lacquered “Leman blue” base.

But this isn’t some simple, sleepy, blue-dialled dress watch. The Roger Dubuis Hommage La Placide is an extremely exciting watch, especially for enthusiasts like myself who have long admired the brand’s initial offerings and have privately clamoured for a return to its more traditional roots. However, this isn’t some retro revival, not entirely: it’s a considered and classy amalgamation of the brand’s past and future, something we got a hint of with the Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar that released at Watches and Wonders earlier this year, but in a much more overt package.

Let’s start with the case. Measuring up at 38mm in diameter and cast in pink gold, the Hommage La Placide features a relatively conventional circular form with broad, bevelled lugs and a smooth, polished bezel that represents a subtle evolution of original Hommage case designs. Contemporary Roger Dubuis designs tend to feature 40mm+ diameters with thin lugs and notched bezels, so immediately, you can see that this is a different beast. It’s also affixed to the wrist via a blue calf leather strap, which features a pink gold push-button deployant clasp in the shape of the original Roger Dubuis monogram.

It’s what’s within this case that’s so impressive, though. That blue base dial is topped with four pink gold-flanked mother-of-pearl perpetual calendar elements: a month and leap year subdial at 12′, a moonphase aperture at 6′ and two thick arcs forming the biretrograde day and date displays.  In the 2000s, Roger Dubuis was one of the first watchmakers to use pink gold and mother-of-pearl in men’s watches, and biretrograde displays are one of the brand’s signature complications (and Mr Dubuis’ favourite), making this utterly fitting.

However, the Hommage La Placide’s dial construction is also subtly evocative of modern Roger Dubuis’ practice: multi-layered dial constructions like this are more in line with other contemporary RD pieces as opposed to the original Hommages.

The movement within is designated the RD1472, but it’s actually a combination of two new-old-stock Roger Dubuis movements: the RD14, the brand’s first in-house automatic movement, which made its debut in 2004 and serves as the base calibre; and the RD74, the brand’s perpetual calendar module, first introduced in 1999. Roger Dubuis significantly remanufactured and improved both these movement elements for use in the Hommage La Placide, too.

For instance, the RD14s actually use vintage in-house balance springs: a real point of pride for the brand, as both in 2004 and now, few watchmakers are capable of making their own balance springs, making it a real flex of RD’s capabilities and status as a true integrated manufacture. I was curious what the advantages or disadvantages of using “vintage” balance springs were: in conversation with the brand, they explained that the biggest hurdle with using these over 20-year-old springs was testing them, as the Poinçon de Genève standard now includes chronometric testing, which it didn’t in 2004. (They wouldn’t tell me what the failure rate was, but let’s assume that over the years, there were a few casualties.)

RD also completely recalculated the gear train of the RD14 to reposition all of the axes of the wheels – again to help it pass chronometric testing – and also remanufactured the main plate, large bridge, and 50% of the components, including levers, springs, wheels, and pinions – all in-house… This is all to say that they haven’t just slapped some NOS movements in a new case and called it a day. The RD1472’s calendar functions are adjusted via 3 correctors: one hidden between the lugs at 5′ for the moonphase, one at 10′ is for the date/month/leap year, and one at 8′ for the days.

Closing thoughts

As I wrote back in May of this year, I’m a fan of both Roger Dubuis’ early, more understated works as well as the brand’s high-tech “hyper horology” modern creations, and feel that those who are looking for a subtle watch from Roger Dubuis should find another watchmaker. I still stand by those words, but in case you haven’t guessed already, I’m absolutely stoked to see the Hommage collection revived like this. Old Roger Dubuis is just so good, and this new Roger Dubuis feels like a return to form, or perhaps a reflection of a brand that’s comfortable reconciling both its past, present and future.

The real question is this: Will we see more of this sort of thing from RD going forward? The Hommage La Placide is allegedly a one-off, but in my conversations with the brand’s representatives, the visitor and collector feedback they received at Watches and Wonders earlier this year about its heritage models – Hommage, Sympathie, Monegasque – has been “very strong”. That leads me to be quietly hopeful… But I don’t want that to detract from any appreciation of the Hommage La Placide on its merits, and it’s got plenty of merits.

Roger Dubuis Hommage La Placide pricing and availability

The Roger Dubuis Hommage La Placide is a limited edition of 28 pieces and is available now from Roger Dubuis boutiques. Price: €115,000 (excl. taxes)

Brand	Roger Dubuis
Model	Hommage La Placide
Reference Number	RDDBHO0612
Case Dimensions	38mm (D) x 11mm (T)
Case Material	Pink gold
Water Resistance	30 metres
Crystal(s)	Sapphire front and back
Dial	Lacquered blue with mother-of-pearl/pink gold elements and aventurine/yellow gold moonphase disc
Strap	Blue calf leather strap, pink gold push-button deployant clasp
Movement	RD1472, in-house, automatic, Poinçon de Genève
Power Reserve	48 hours
Functions	Hours, minutes, perpetual calendar (retrograde day, retrograde date, month and leap year subdial), moonphase
Availability	Limited edition of 28 pieces
Price	€115,000 (excl. taxes)