In Conversation with : Nicola Andreatta, CEO Roger Dubuis
7 min read
Striking, audacious and even outrageous are some of the words that come to mind when one speculates about Roger Dubuis timepieces. However, we cannot ignore the exclusivity and innovations that this Manufacture offers to the the world of "Hyper Horology". Leading Roger Dubuis today is Nicola Andreatta, a man with watchmaking in his blood. Nicola's association with Roger Dubuis dates way back to the pre-Richemont days when his family owned company Timeo S.A. was the supplier for Roger Dubuis and even manufactured one the first few cases for the brand. Now the CEO of Roger Dubuis, The Hour Markers caught up with Nicola Andreatta, to decode the upgrades of the new single flying tourbillon and the way forward for a brand.
THM: The single Flying Tourbillon by Roger Dubuis, has had a complete makeover. Could you take us through the upgrades?
Nicola Andreatta: This year we dedicated our attention to the Excalibur Collection. Our Icon, the main protagonist of our Hyper Horology world. For the past two years we have been sparing no resources in pushing our contemporary vision to the limit, so to give a new form… first to our Double Flying Tourbillon, and today to our Single Flying Tourbillon. The skeletonized approach is always present: it is our unique signature. Yet we completely reinterpreted the volumes and we shaped them with new lines, we crafted them with new modern materials, we added a series of technical enhancements so to match performance with the sophisticated work of our designers.
The result is a contemporary masterpiece for the wrist, with a new design that showcases clean cut lines for the case and the movement, so creating the impression of a thinner piece while improving the sense of transparency and depth.
The Caliber is rebuilt from bottom to top in an architectural feat that sees our Astral signature now levitating freely above the barrel. And such dynamic aesthetic is, of course, and as always at Roger Dubuis, amplified by the Poinçon de Genève, the Geneva Seal decorations, performed by hands by our skilled artisans.
Always keeping our clients in mind, the new (RD512SQ) movement has been conceived to maximize their experience. Featuring an optimized Flying Tourbillon, built with lighter and anti-magnetic materials, the overall weight of the gearing has been reduced so to improve the performance and increase the Power Reserve to 72 hours.
To elevate the pleasure, the beautiful 42 mm case comes in a choice of elegant EON rose GOLD, aggressive dark grey DLC Titanium or quite spectacular and unique Cobalt-Chrome versions. As well as A GLOW ME UP, that we like to call it the pinnacle of our iconic Single Flying Tourbillon collection. And get ready for more to come, more artistic Interpretations than ever before… Stay tuned.
THM: Hyper Horology. Has been the mantra at Roger Dubuis. How did that come about?
Nicola Andreatta: We love to say that our heritage is the future and we always look forward to the way we think our watchmaking approach should evolve, never following and always leading the path. Aligned with this vision is our concept of Hyper Horology. “Haute Horlogerie”, by evocating the traditional world of watchmaking and its players, dramatically fails in embodying our forward-looking, expressive and contemporary approach. In fact, “hyper-“ is a prefix coming from ancient Greek, it means going above, over, beyond, and therefore it perfectly represents the attitude of our Maison. As no definition would fit, we created a new one!
THM: What inspired the collaboration between Roger Dubuis and the new age artists like Dr. Woo and Gully?
Nicola Andreatta: 2021 marks a new step of Roger Dubuis' journey into the exciting world of contemporary art, consolidating our Urban Art territory. Throughout the years we have explored different ways to convey our vision together with friends, eventually coming from different industries. And we do love to connect with daring and creative talents who share our values.
For these new and ground-breaking collaborations, we have connected with two renowned artists at our very own image: a true legend in the world of tattoo, Dr. Woo, and the celebrated yet anonymous graffiti artist, Gully.
True masters of their own craft, both are living to redefine the boundaries of their art, just like we do with our Hyper Horology.
But the three of us have more than that in common: we are troublemakers at heart, we constantly keep an eye on what is coming next, we challenge the status quo, and we rise to every challenge… leading the way to a spectacular and unexpected future. We can't wait to show you this future!
THM: The Glow Me Up project is quite unconventional in Haute Horlogerie. What was your vision behind it?
Nicola Andreatta: We are extremely proud of our "Glow me up", the pinnacle of our iconic Single Flying Tourbillon collection! In fact, it has been a long journey and it was developed thanks to the combination of several different projects put together. We were looking for a way to light up diamonds and precious stones, and the recent work with luminous materials and new setting techniques provided the inspiration to further explore such techniques. The result is simply stunning, a watch with two faces: our beautiful single flying tourbillon during the day and a vibrant, extravagant timepiece with dazzling diamonds at night.
THM: Roger Dubuis is a master of Tourbillons. They are distinctive and most recognisable. But it’s been a while that we’ve seen another complication coming from Manufacture Roger Dubuis. What will be the next?
Nicola Andreatta: In less than 25 years Roger Dubuis has introduced more than forty proprietary in-house calibers, something unprecedented in the industry. We master all the big complications, and we keep evolving them as we recently did with our completely renewed tourbillon or the minute repeater that we launched last year. We take inspiration from traditional watchmaking, but we constantly challenge ourselves to explore new possibilities in terms of technique and aesthetics. St the moment we are working on several projects, you know that from Roger Dubuis you should always expect the unexpected, so that we will soon release new exciting timepieces. Stay tuned!
