Roger Dubuis doesn't do nostalgia. Or, at least, it hasn't in recent memory. The brand has spent the better part of the last decade perfecting skeletonised movements, Lamborghini collaborations, and working with enough carbon fibre to furnish a Formula 1 car.
Which is why the Hommage La Placide, announced for the manufacture's 30th anniversary, feels oddly significant – not because it's particularly loud or contemporary, but because it isn't.
This is a 38mm pink gold dress watch with a perpetual calendar, a bi-retrograde display, and a name that references Roger Dubuis' childhood scout nickname.
It's also built around the RD1472 calibre – a movement that combines restored RD14 base calibres from 2004 with remanufactured RD72 perpetual calendar modules first used in 1999. So far, so Noughties.
Original components sit alongside new ones, all finished to Poinçon de Genève standards that have evolved considerably since these movements were first conceived.
There are 15 different finishing techniques employed across the 291 components
What's particularly interesting is the effort required to meet modern Geneva Seal standards. The original RD14 and RD72 were certified under criteria that have since changed – the current requirements, introduced in 2012, now test the entire watch rather than just the movement.
Roger Dubuis had to recalculate the gear train, reposition wheel axes, and remanufacture roughly half the RD72's components in-house to make this work.
The bi-retrograde complication was a favourite of Mr Dubuis himself. Two calendar hands sweep across semi-circular scales before snapping back to zero – a display he first employed in 1995 and one that's distinctly his.
The scales taper inward, creating what the brand describes as a "sense of ellipsis”, though what they really create is visual rhythm across a dial that already appears to be working overtime. It’s the kind of aesthetic maximalism we’re used to from Mr Dubuis’ oeuvre.
There are 15 different finishing techniques employed across the 291 components of the Hommage La Placide, but there are a few particularly noteworthy.
Mother-of-pearl calendar segments with hand-bevelled edges; a main plate in "Leman Blue" – supposedly the shade of Lake Geneva that Dubuis observed daily on his student commute between Geneva and Vevey; circular-brushed counters; a rhodium-coated flange; and a moonphase rendered in blue aventurine with curved yellow gold moons.
It's decorative, certainly, but there's real heart and intention behind the ornamentation. It’s really quite lovely the lengths the watch goes to in honouring its founder.
It's worth highlighting that the original Hommage collection, launched in 1996, was Dubuis' tribute to the watchmakers who influenced his career. This time, the tribute runs the other direction.
And while Roger Dubuis boutiques will offer complimentary straps to existing Hommage owners – a nice touch – the real gesture is the watch itself.
The original Hommage collection was Dubuis' tribute to the watchmakers who influenced his career. This time, the tribute is to the late Dubuis himself
For a brand that's built its contemporary identity on hyper-modern excess, La Placide represents something of a pivot. Not a wholesale retreat from the Excalibur line's maximalism, but an acknowledgment that there's value in the founder's more classical instincts.
The recent launch of the Excalibur Monobalancier Biretrograde Calendar is proof that, now more than ever, Roger Dubuis is attempting to bridge both worlds.
Whether this signals a broader shift in direction or simply a commemorative detour remains to be seen. But for now, it's rare to see Roger Dubuis this committed to its own past – and rarer still to see it executed with this much care.
La Placide won't be for everyone, certainly not those who prefer the brand’s more avant-garde offerings, but it will hopefully serve as a pertinent reminder of Roger Dubuis’ late founder and namesake. That’s something that all fans of the brand can get behind.
For more information, see rogerdubuis.com
