The house of Roger Dubuis has just announced a significant departure from its recent aesthetic. For the first time in years, the brand has unveiled a men’s watch that doesn’t bear the Excalibur visage. Instead, the new 38mm Roger Dubuis Hommage La Placide revives the maison’s classical Hommage design language.
The Roger Dubuis Hommage La Placide harks back to the maison's classic aesthetic, and features a new movement built from new old stock.
Limited to just 28 pieces in 18k pink gold, this creation marks the renaissance of the late founder’s Hommage collection—a line he first introduced in 1996 to honor his loved ones, mentors, and the watchmakers who inspired him.
This new Hommage piece, however, turns that tribute inward. Bearing Monsieur Roger Dubuis’ childhood nickname, La Placide—a nod to his calm and gentle temperament—it also embodies the horological signatures that once defined his work.
A thoughtful tribute to the master watchmaker and watch restorer, the Hommage La Placide combines original and remanufactured components. Its RD1472 caliber is crafted from a precious cache of new old stock: 28 examples of the RD14, Dubuis’ first in-house automatic movement from 2004.
This caliber features the finely finished swan-neck regulator that he favored, as well as balance springs produced in-house to merit the designation of “manufacture.” In his relentless pursuit of precision, Dubuis and his team even reconfigured the axes of the gear train.
After these RD14 calibers were thoroughly tested and refurbished, they were coupled with the RD72 module, which features the late Dubuis’ favorite perpetual calendar complication, his beloved biretrograde display with his trademark dual arcs, along with a jumping month-and-leap year subdial that is powered by two star wheels.
After a meticulous remanufacturing process conducted entirely in-house by the vertically integrated manufacture, the RD1472 was completed with no fewer than 15 decorative finishing techniques.
In true Dubuis fashion, the watch’s dial is a study in depth and texture. The stepped flange is circular-brushed and rhodium-coated, with polished angles. Elliptical arcs and circular-brushed subdials are inlaid with mother-of-pearl, while the main plate is lacquered in a deep “Leman Blue”—a hue reminiscent of Dubuis’ view of Lake Geneva during his train journeys. The moonphase, meanwhile, displays 18k yellow gold moons gliding across an aventurine sky.
To mark the revival of the Hommage collection and the 30th anniversary of the brand, Roger Dubuis is also extending a gesture to its loyal collectors: owners of existing Hommage watches will receive complimentary replacement straps for their timepieces when visiting any Roger Dubuis monobrand boutiques worldwide.
