Wednesday 23 January 2019

ON THE WRIST: Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Tourbillon Volant


Harrods / London, 5th January 2019 

I'd like to point out that I don't make a habit of trying on watches that are way out of my price range, I feel like it's a bit unfair to waste people's time like that, in fact I can only think of three watches that I've tried on that are completely out of the realms of reality. The first was last year, I was in Selfridges and I was talking to the lady on the Audemars Piguet stand and she talked me into trying on the £22,000 Royal Oak Offshore 'Vampire'. That record stood for nearly a year until on the morning of the 5th of January I tried on the £33,000 Mikropendulum in the Oxford Street store - I wouldn't usually have done that either, but Evan was a nice guy and made my day with that one!

That same afternoon I was showing my wife the newly revamped watch room in Harrods (I'd seen it part renovated last year when I visited London with my friend Rich, but my wife hadn't been since they'd started doing it) and after she had finished drooling over the ceramic Black Magic Hublots, we nipped into Roger Dubuis for a gander at some dream watches.

On a previous visit we'd seen the 'King Arthur' watch, several tourbillons and double tourbillons and some watches that you could barely see for the diamonds covering every single facet of the surface! But I'd never tried one on, because... well, it doesn't feel particularly comfortable to me. In the same way that I don't feel comfortable taking photos of everything I strap to my wrist.

But we came to a desk where there was a lady standing, and in the cabinet in front of her there were a lot of the more 'affordable' pieces (actually, Roger Dubuis do make some much more affordable watches, although I don't really like them) and we got talking to the lady and she asked us if we knew the brand. I said I did from Watches TV and QP magazine, and she asked if I had ever considered buying one. Rather than laugh in her face and run out of the shop like the fraud that I am, I mumbled that 'no not really', and when she asked which other brands I liked I perpetuated my deceit by telling her I like 'Richard Mille' (which is true, after all!) and she then set about encouraging me to try on a watch.

So, rather than completely embarrass myself and ask her to go to the trouble of getting one of  the (approximately 8x my annual salary) double tourbillons out of the wall cabinets behind us, I perused the cabinet in front of us and pointed to the Excalibur Spider Tourbillon. The watch was still wrapped in plastic, but the first thing I did notice was that the white rubber strap did look a little bit grubby... probably from oiks like my trying it on!

(I must point out at this juncture that I had made the schoolboy error of wearing a quartz 6000 series that morning, something which I was quite happy with until I had to take it off and place it in the watch tray in front of me. Mind you, chances are that if she didn't notice the TAG logo she might not have a clue what it was anyway!)


The rubber strap features a deployment clasp which when closed gives the impression of a pin and buckle fixing. I've never really understood the point of this, since a deployment is the preferred option for most and perceived as more expensive, so quite why you'd want a deployment clasp that looked like a cheaper option I don't know, although I know Roger Dubuis aren't the only ones who do this. Plus it means you've still got strap retainers to deal with, I'm sorry but I don't get it.

The watch itself is quite light, since it's made of titanium and it is slightly strange being able to see all the way through the watch, especially if you don't have a particularly sexy wrist (mine, for example, is quite hairy...). I must admit I don't really like that, it looks good off the wrist but not so good in situ.

I did like the colour scheme, the blue and white works so well together, but am I blown away by the tourbillon? I'm not sure, it's cool yeah, but it didn't give me that wow factor like the 1/100th of a second hand on the Mikropendulum did. It's a fair size watch at 45mm but it didn't feel massive on the wrist, certainly I would be happy to wear it, and it felt comparable to my Heuer 01 Carrera which is also 45mm. Also, despite the impression you might get from the photographs, the hands are actually quite legible.

I think the thing that wrong-footed me a little was the price. In trying this watch on I couldn't help but be aware that it costs £137,000 and while it is beautifully made and executed, I just can't really see the justification for it. But I don't necessarily think that's a criticism of Roger Dubuis to be fair, in all honesty I wonder if I had tried on a Richard Mille would I have felt any different? I guess I'm a realist at heart, and I don't actually think that I will ever really crave watches like this that are so beyond my means.

I think the best way to put it into words is that, while I could enjoy a £100,000 Ferrari and it would probably give me enjoyment that I'm never going to get out of a £15,000 Vauxhall Corsa, I don't think these hyper-watches can give me something that a £15,000 TAG Heuer tourbillon couldn't. Maybe that sounds like sour grapes from someone who's never going to be in a position to make that choice, but I don't really see it that way. Also, I can't imagine walking around with a watch like this on my wrist, it would be as stressful as hell, I was just glad I managed not to drop it while it was in my care!

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