Roger Dubuis Watches Review
There are lots of reasons why someone might want to purchase a luxury watch. Some like elaborate complications.
Others like interesting designs. Still others like fine craftsmanship or the prestige of owning something that is limited in production.
And others still like owning a fine piece of jewelry, with precious metals and gemstones.
Roger Dubuis watches offer all of those things, as they make high quality, limited edition watches that feature elaborate complications, made from precious metals and usually adorned with gemstones.
They’re not for everyone’s taste, and they certainly won’t be for everyone’s wallet, but if you like fancy and rare, you will definitely be interested in this brand.
Read on for the full Roger Dubuis watches review.
Build Quality
Movements
Innovation
Styling and Features
Care and Maintenance
Warranty
Prices
Where to Buy
Summary
Roger Dubuis Watches Build Quality
This brand is relatively new to the market, as the company was founded in 1995. Still, they’ve quickly established themselves as a company that produces high quality timepieces.
Their cases are made from stainless steel, titanium, and gold, with some titanium cases being PVD-coated. Watch faces are covered with rock-hard sapphire crystal.
Water resistance is adequate, though not over the top. Most models are rated from 30-50 meters for water resistance, but as these are not diving watches, you won’t need exceptional resistance to water.
Straps are rubber, leather, steel, titanium, and gold.
The movements used are all mechanical, either manually wound or automatic (self-winding.) The company also manufactures a few quartz models, though they’re not the company’s primary product.
All movements are built in-house at their factory in Switzerland. On the company’s Website, you’ll see that each model lists the number of components used in that particular model’s movement.
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For a relatively new and small company, Roger Dubuis watches manufactures timepieces with a number of interesting features, including:
- Automatic skeleton watch with micro-rotor
- Single Flying Tourbillon
- Skeleton double flying tourbillon
- Automatic skeleton with micro-rotor
- Quatuor, with four sprung balances
- Double sprung balances with differential
Power reserves range from about 48 to 60 hours on average. You’ll also find models with moon phases, day/date complications, and chronograph features.
Styling is bold and hard to miss. Many models feature a skeleton design, showing off the parts underneath. Others show off lots of diamonds, and many women’s models feature bright colors.
The company has contracts with both Lamborghini and Pirelli, and has a collection of watches for each that lean to the sporty side.
Cases tend to be on the large side; you’ll be looking at 45mm or so on average for men’s models and about 36mm for women.
All Roger Dubuis watches are limited editions, and the company produces all models in editions of 8, 28, or 88 pieces. If you like truly limited, hand-crafted works of art, this might be a good brand for you.
Care and maintenance for this brand will be a bit more complex than for most watches, as they all feature elaborate mechanical movements that will require occasional scheduled service.
You’ll likely want to return your watch to the company every five years or so for scheduled service. This will involve examination of the movement for worn parts, replacement of them, if necessary, and cleaning and testing to ensure that the watch is returned to you as close to “as new” as possible.
This typically takes 6 to 8 weeks to complete, and the cost ranges from roughly $750 to $3000 per service incident.
With proper care, your Roger Dubuis watches should last for decades.
For all of their precision and high pricing, you’d think that the warranty offered with the purchase of Roger Dubuis watches would be as unique as their products.
That’s not the case, however. The warranty is for two years from the date of purchase against defects in materials and craftsmanship. While this is a good warranty, it’s an average one, and it’s the same one offered by about 90% of all watch manufacturers out there.
You will receive an additional one year warranty for any service work performed on your watch.
If the watches use titanium, gold, diamonds, and have hand-crafted movements, you know they’re not going to be inexpensive, and Roger Dubuis watches are most certainly not.
They do, however, offer some models that are reasonably priced among high end watch brands. You can find a few models, including mechanical ones, for prices starting at under $10,000.
After that, the prices can easily go into the stratosphere, with prices for some models reaching well into six figures.
This pricing is not out of line with other high-end manufacturers.
Officially, you can only purchase Roger Dubuis watches at company-owned boutiques or at authorized retailers. The boutiques are few in number and are only located in such places as New York, Los Angeles, London, or Paris.
You’ll find a few authorized retailers scattered here and there, but you’re only going to find them in major cities. You cannot purchase Roger Dubuis watches at their official Website.
You can also buy them online through a few “gray market” retailers, and that may be your best opportunity to find Roger Dubuis watches at a discount.
Roger Dubuis Watches Summary
It’s interesting to see that a company that is less than 25 years old has been able to produce such interesting, hand-crafted luxury watches.
Roger Dubuis watches aren’t inexpensive, but they do feature a lot of qualities that buyers want to see in a high end watch:
- Precious metals and gemstones
- Good build quality
- Interesting complications and features
- Limited edition appeal
If these are the sorts of things that you’re seeking in a watch, then Roger Dubuis watches should be a good fit for you. They offer a few dozen different models for both men and women, and a wide variety of styles and colors.
While they’re fairly expensive, the price range for this brand is quite broad, ranging from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
If you want something special that will last for decades, you should definitely take a look at Roger Dubuis watches.
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