Let’s Get Loud

Not for the meek, Roger Dubuis Excalibur Huracán enters a room

the only way it knows how – with guns blazing.

IF YOU’VE NEVER done it before, driving a Lamborghini is extremely stressful. No doubt, it is very exhilarating – as in the thought of it. But when it’s time to actually drive the car, no matter how many years of on-road experience you have, you’re nothing more than a bunch of nerves. You worry about going too fast, in case you can’t handle the speed. On the other hand, you feel like you shouldn’t go too slow either because, well, it’s a Lamborghini.

All of that intensifies when you release the scissor door, turn on the ignition and start revving the engine. The way the car roars to life is all it takes to send major palpitations to your heart and tremors through your blood (or loins, for them petrolheads).

So you push the pedal to the metal, as much as you dare anyway, and you’re awed by how smoothly the car glides off and changes gears, how tightly it hugs the road. You begin to enjoy the drive. Barrelling down a straight with disproportionate confidence, it’s like you’re one with the car.

And finally you pull up in front of a crowd that cheers upon your arrival and you step out of the vehicle feeling nothing less than a million bucks.

With all that adrenaline coursing through your veins right now, you look towards your wrist and what do you see? Hopefully a watch that’s every bit as performance-driven as the car you just drove – the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Huracán Performante.

Few auto-inspired watches go as far as the Roger Dubuis Excalibur. In 2017, the Genevan watch company formed a power-packed triple alliance with Lamborghini and leading tyre maker Pirelli. So with the Excalibur Huracán Performante, you can expect much more than superficial courtesies.

Like its predecessor the Excalibur Aventador S, this piece shares aerodynamic design features and highperformance raw materials with its namesake supercar. The Excalibur Huracán Performante is strong, light and sexy, and simply spectacular when viewed from the front. The skeletonised Calibre RD630 features a strut-bar design bridge that’ll instantly remind you of the Huracán’s V10 engine.

Notably, the movement is crafted out of the same avant-garde material called C-SMC Carbon used on the Huracán. You can see its natural striations all over the bridges against the honeycomb motif reminiscent of the grilles of the car. Another point that highlights Roger Dubuis’ daredevil watchmaking spirit is the balance wheel which is set at a 12-degree incline, ostensibly for optimal chronometric precision.

This unique feature was first introduced in the 2013 Excalibur Quatuor which has four of them oscillating at a combined 16Hz frequency.

C-SMC Carbon is also used for the 45mm case in combination with titanium over-moulded with red rubber. To really keep its weight to a minimum, Roger Dubuis utilised the Excalibur Spider case which has hollowed out lugs and case middle but absolutely no compromise on material functionality and structural integrity.

Which begs the question: what’s the point of an over-engineered timepiece, since it’s not like you can drive the watch?

Well, have a think the next time you drive the Huracán Performante. Pay attention, the answer will be in your heart.