The stuff of legends
Simon de Burton takes a look at the Holy Grail of Roger Dubuis watches
Global interest in luxury watches has grown beyond recognition since the turn of the century. The new millennium has opened the door on a true horological renaissance that has seen numerous dormant dial names come back to life, and as many new ones arrive from nowhere.
And anyone who remembers the watch world of the early 2000s will also remember the plethora of truly far-out watches in that period. They were created by brands eager to outdo their rivals at a time when the aim was to be as big, brash, bold and expensive as possible.
Today, case sizes are diminishing, simplicity is to the fore and show-off timepieces are out. Back then, however, it was all about storytelling and creating watches that people would talk about – and one of the best at doing that was a designer called Tom Bolt, who was tasked with revving-up the previously staid watch offering of gentlemen’s outfitter Alfred Dunhill.
The commission resulted in several wacky models, the best of which was a 2006 piece called the Parody Stone (pictured above) that took its inspiration from Arthurian legend. Its obsidian (natural volcanic glass) dial was adorned with three lions, the minute hand took the form of a medieval broadsword and the hour markers represented 12 of the 24 Knights of the Round Table. A shield-shaped date window revealing numbers in a Gothic font added to the knightly theme, the pièce de résistance of which was a metal grille – based on a jousting visor – that had to be hinged back from the crystal in order to reveal the time.
The whimsical (and entirely impractical) aspects of the white gold oddity were not lost on Dunhill, which admitted in its marketing material that “when [the grille is] closed, the time is somewhat obscured….”
The watch was limited to 250 examples at around £12,000 apiece, but the lack of pieces on the secondary market suggests there were few takers the first time round. The potential to horologically exploit the legend of King Arthur was not, however, lost on everyone – especially the designers at Roger Dubuis, a brand that chose the 2013 edition of Geneva’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie to reveal its own take on the idea. To do so, it pulled out all the stops by creating an Arthurian stand within the city’s Palexpo exhibition hall – complete with a live hunting eagle that was brought out every time the watch was presented to a new audience.
Named the Excalibur Automatic Knights of the Round Table, the watch was truly as described with an exquisite green and white enamel dial based on the Winchester Round Table, complete with the Tudor rose in the centre and the names of all 24 knights written in old English around the edge.
What made the watch truly spectacular, however, was the fact that a dozen knights – all different – were standing at the table, each one being in the form of a microsculpture
meticulously crafted in solid gold and complete with outstretched arms pointing drawn swords towards the centre.
The back of the watch, meanwhile, was decorated with an enamel crest and engraved with the words: “Around this table, all in equality, will sit the most valiant knights. From this room, they will set out to seek challenges, to undo wrongs, to protect the weak and to bring down the proud.”
Limited to 88 pieces, the watch sold out fast and is now highly collectable – and justifiably so. It proved sufficiently popular, in fact, that Roger Dubuis decided to revisit the knightly theme on six further occasions, most recently in 2023 with the Knights of the Round Table piece shown here, which completes a trilogy alongside previous models launched in 2021 and 2022. This latest interpretation of the Arthurian legend sees the 12 hand-engraved, six-millimetre-tall pink gold knights standing around a table made from individual blocks of ice-blue Murano glass.
Intended to evoke an erupting, frozen lake over which the brave warriors must cross, each block is coated with glistening snow made from matt Limoges porcelain before they are pieced together to form the dial. The 45-millimetre case, meanwhile, is made from high-tech titanium but with the type of Damascus finish historically applied to the best-quality swords.
Roger Dubuis claims to have achieved the look by handing a stack of titanium plates to an actual blacksmith who, after placing them in a scorching furnace, hammers them together into a solid block, which is then repeatedly re-heated, crushed and folded before being dipped in acid to create the signature Damascus “wave” pattern.
Other ingenious touches include a glass gallery beneath the bezel that enables the knights to be seen from all angles, a rich blue oscillating weight inspired by medieval stained glass and a crown and protector in the shape of a sword guard – evoking the Excalibur, the legendary sword in the stone that Arthur had to pull free in order to signal his destiny as king.
It might all sound a bit mad, but this latest Knights of the Round Table watch is strangely appealing – and, with just 28 examples being made, getting hold of one might just be almost as tricky as finding the Holy Grail itself. But at least you’ve got a starting point – your nearest Roger Dubuis boutique. £310,000, rogerdubuis.com
It might sound a bit mad, but this latest Knights of the Round Table watch is strangely appealing