Full Circle: New Roger Dubuis Timepieces Reconnect with the Spirit of Its Founder

Today, the brand name Roger Dubuis conjures images of extreme timepieces—unabashed, unapologetic, motorsport-inspired feats of engineering that have shattered records in complexity.

The Excalibur Quatuor (2013), for example, was the first watch to incorporate four sprung balances and five differentials (components that ensure chronometric precision through the correction of errors and the steady transmission of energy). And who can forget the Monovortex Split-Seconds Chronograph (2023), in which the manufacture introduced a patented split-seconds mechanism (seconds hands that can simultaneously record two lap times) that included a 120° Rotating Minute Counter.

The manufacture calls these mind-bending innovations and intricate aesthetics “hyper horology”, and produces only a few thousand watches a year for its exclusive clientele.

Roger Dubuis remains a polarizing brand, because some collectors struggle to reconcile its flamboyant creations with its namesake: a soft-spoken watchmaker who spent 14 years (1966 to 1980) at Patek Philippe before founding his own brand of elegant dress watches.

To commemorate the 30^th anniversary of its founding, the brand revived a functional aesthetic synonymous with the late Roger Dubuis—a painstaking complication that Dubuis spent years developing. The biretrograde calendar is proof that he embodied “hyper horology”, even before this tagline was coined.

The Legend of the Biretrograde Calendar

Roger Dubuis’ dedication to watchmaking—he was known to work even on his days off—was nothing short of a divine gift to horology.

Only a select few Patek Philippe alumni—among them Dominique Renaud, Kari Voutilainen, and Laurent Ferrier—have achieved global success with their eponymous brands. Dubuis was one of them, and notably the first to create a watch outside Patek Philippe to be awarded the prestigious Poinçon de Genève, which is a certification with the most exacting of criteria.

In the years after leaving Patek Philippe, as he searched for his own voice in independent watchmaking, Dubuis became fixated on a single, daunting goal: perfecting the world’s first perpetual calendar module with a double retrograde display. He poured years into this pursuit.

Working off the ultra-thin L990 movement—originally developed by Longines and later produced by Lemania—Dubuis revealed the fruit of his labor at Baselworld 1989: the Harry Winston Bi-Retrograde Perpetual Calendar. It was co-patented with fellow Patek alumnus Jean-Marc Wiederrecht, with whom Dubuis developed complications for various brands, and it was breathtaking.

At a time when the Swiss watch industry was still reeling from the Quartz Crisis, Dubuis’ biretrograde mechanism was a defiant, poetic affirmation that mechanical watchmaking, and the human spirit it represents, was here to stay.

Dubuis’ early years at Longines shaped both his technical instincts and aesthetic leanings. Upon founding his namesake brand in 1995, he would go on to apply the biretrograde mechanism to his eponymous watches, including the Roger Dubuis Sympathie which featured a cushion-shaped case reminiscent of a historic Longines design.

The Sympathie remains highly coveted on the secondary market, both in its early version with a cushion-shaped crystal and in later iterations featuring a round crystal housed within a cushion-shaped case.

Its defining visual signature—the arched biretrograde displays, with numerals that subtly change in size—was unmistakable then, and their triumphant return at Watches and Wonders 2025 stopped attendees in their tracks.

The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Grande Complication and Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar

How does retrograde work?

At the heart of this curious mechanism is the snail cam—a component that’s asymmetrical rather than round, and named for its resemblance to a mollusc’s coiled shell. As the cam rotates, its varying radius builds tension in a spring-loaded lever. Once the lever reaches the cam’s steep drop-off, it slips off the edge, and return springs snap the retrograde hand back to its starting point.

The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Grande Complication EX1174 and Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar EX1179 released at Watches and Wonders 2025 each feature two such snail cams, responsible for the day display at 9 o’clock and date at 3 o’clock. In the Grande Complication, a similar snail cam-and-lever system also actuates the minute repeater’s chimes.

The automatic RD118 caliber inside the Grande Complication pays tribute to the first grande complication movement Dubuis created for his own brand in 2009. It unites a flying tourbillon, minute repeater, and perpetual calendar—all within a 45mm rose gold case.

While production of this horological showpiece is limited to just eight pieces, the Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar will be more attainable—it will be produced in a larger, albeit unspecified quantity.

It, too, pays homage to Roger Dubuis’ original biretrograde innovation, presented on an engrossing silver and mother-of-pearl dial.

You can read more about this 40mm pink gold watch in this comprehensive review by Haute Time’s Editor-in-Chief.

More Watches and Wonders 2025 Novelties

Although Roger Dubuis chose to shine the spotlight on the Grande Complication and Biretrograde Calendar during Watches and Wonders 2025, I found its other debutants just as intriguing.

One such drop is its popular 42mm Excalibur Monobalancier that the brand just reimagined with a full cobalt bracelet and case. This bold move with the EX0969 is pretty cool, because besides Czapek and Piaget, I can’t think of any other brands that currently leverage the strengths of cobalt, such as this metal’s toughness, lightness, corrosion resistance and scratch resistance.

I was even more intrigued to learn that its blue bridges were neither painted nor flame-blued, because just a bit of oxidation makes gray cobalt reveal its natural, electric shade of blue.

At the fair, Roger Dubuis also unveiled a pitch-dark version of the Orbis in Machina—you might agree that the 45mm EX1157 in DLC titanium is a statement timepiece, to say the least.

Recognizing that watches with precious stones are growing in popularity among gentleman collectors, Roger Dubuis has recently been releasing timepieces set with precious stones that gradually shift in color around the circumference. Sourcing gems in matching yet subtly transitioning hues is no easy feat—especially not at the caliber Roger Dubuis demands.

The manufacture’s efficacy in this department is on dazzling display in the new Excalibur Monobalancier EX1189, a pièce unique encased in white gold set with 30 baguette-cut tanzanite & topaz stones. If you enjoy this azure aesthetic, you might also like 2024’s 42mm Excalibur Blue Hour Monotourbillon EX1134, which is set with 60 sapphires and diamonds, and is limited to 28 pieces. If you are more inclined to dawn’s hazel hues, the 45mm Excalibur Sunrise Double Tourbillon EX1130 from 2024 features a pink gold case fitted with red garnets, orange spessartites and yellow sapphires, and is limited to eight pieces.

The brand’s relentless pursuits in haute horlogerie echo the enduring legacy of a man, who devoted his life to haute horlogerie in an era when few others saw the merit of doing so.