Simply Abu Dhabi Magazine XXV

1 0 6 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I RogerDubuis ExcaliburQuatuor CobaltMicroMelt ® As always at SIHH, you can rely on Roger Dubuis to dream up an original and attention- grabbing concept around which to present the brand’s new collections. This year it was a confident call for disruptive materials and progressive complications. Roger Dubuis is reliably different, true to its own uncompromising originality: “Dare to be rare. Earth, water, air and the elemental, alternately smouldering and scorching forces of aesthetic and technical designs.” A recurring theme at this year’s SIHH, innovative new materials and techniques are being embraced by some of the leading brands. Roger Dubuis is at the head of the pack with cobalt chrome, which is used for the 48 mm- diameter case, bezel, caseback and crown. This material is produced using the extremely exclusive MicroMelt technology that represents just 0.1% of worldwide metallurgy. Widely associated with aeronautics and astronomy, this process involves melting and atomising the alloy into a fine powder by introducing the molten metal to a high- pressure stream of gas using a dedicated vacuum induction melting gas atomisation unit. This powder is then blended and screened to a controlled diameter, poured into canisters that are sealed and subjected to hot isostatic pressing to achieve full denseness, before being hot-worked to produce hot-rolled bars and then processed to finished size. As always in making such technical and aesthetic choices, the manufacture adopts this state-of-the-art material with watch wearers firmly in mind: it is 100% biocompatible, extremely corrosion-resistant thanks to the spontaneous formation of a passive protective film, and outstandingly durable. This gleaming cobalt chrome makes a striking contrast with the blue PVD-coated movement barrel cage and bridges, as well as the dial, hour-marker and alligator leather strap. Not content with using progressive new materials, Roger Dubuis has also bushed the boundaries with the RD101 Quatuor movement. Comprising 590 components, it features four sprung balances and five differentials. In the brand’s own words, the movement “achieves instantaneously what the tourbillon takes a full minute to accomplish – namely compensating for the rate variations caused by the effects of gravity on a watch.”