3 days ago
Roger Dubuis Opens Boutique At Birks Vancouver, Canada
The new Roger Dubuis boutique at Maison Birks Vancouver.
Niche watchmaker Roger Dubuis, a producer of limited-edition complicated watches, particularly tourbillons, has opened a boutique at the Maison Birks flagship store in Vancouver, Canada. It takes its place among other exclusive brand boutiques in the flagship store, including Chaumet, Roberto Coin, Longines and Baume & Mercier. Roger Dubuis is unique in that every watch it makes is finished to Geneva Seal standards, an exacting process that requires every component of the watch, including every piece of the movement, to be finished to perfection. This, coupled with the fact that the brand specializes in tourbillons, positions Roger Dubuis in a six-figure price category. With production of no more than a few thousand watches per year. Models are made in limited editions of 8, 28 or 88 pieces.
The astral motif figures prominently in the Roger Dubuis boutique at Maison Birks Vancouver.
The store design reflects the brand, with a combination of traditional and natural materials and dynamic red accents, including an immense astral symbol, a motif of the brand, reflecting the shape of the openworked bridges on some models. Concrete elements are juxtaposed with polished marble, and aluminum appears alongside varnished wood. This coincides with Roger Dubuis watch design, which combines very traditional watch movements, but presents them in modern designs, usually skeletonized, with modern materials such as carbon fiber, titanium and DLC. The latest piece is the Excalibur Grande Complication, which includes a bi-retrograde display, reflecting the first watch Roger Dubuis produced when he started his brand in 1995. It has a flying tourbillon escapement and a minute repeater, and the dial is open in order to demonstrate its high-watchmaking finish – with brushed surfaces, polished chamfers and coin rentrants, which means that inner angles of the bridges are beveled and polished to perfection, a task that takes years of training. Flip the watch over, where the finish is just as perfect, and you can see the gong and hammers of the minute repeater. It will be made in a limited edition of eight pieces and is prced $691,000.
The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Grande Complication.
'Maison Birks downtown Vancouver is an esteemed watchmaking institution,' says Laurent Toinet, president of Roger Dubuis North America. 'We're delighted to take our place within this famous store and present our own unique sense of expressive luxury.'
