When a brand like Roger Dubuis revisits its origins, expectations are high. The new Hommage La Placide, a 28-piece limited edition, is not a nostalgic copy of the past but a careful conversation between tradition and renewal. For its 30th anniversary, the Geneva manufacture celebrates not only its founder but the very idea of restraint and mechanical integrity that shaped its early years.
A return to the source
While modern Roger Dubuis is known for bold skeletonized movements and architectural cases, the Hommage La Placide whispers rather than shouts. Its 38 mm pink-gold case recalls the brand's first creations from the mid-1990s, a time when the Hommage and Sympathie lines introduced Dubuis's distinct blend of Geneva seal craftsmanship and expressive design. This new model pays tribute to that founding spirit with a softer geometry, beveled lugs, and an overall balance rarely seen in the current Excalibur-dominated era.
The watch takes its name from Roger Dubuis's childhood nickname, “La Placide”—a reference to his calm demeanor as a Boy Scout. It is also a nod to Lake Leman's serene surface, a daily sight during his watchmaking studies. The symbolism is clear: where the brand's recent designs have been theatrical, this watch chooses composure.
Layers of craft and calm
The dial architecture alone reveals how far the brand has come in reinterpreting complexity with subtlety. The shimmering mother-of-pearl arcs of the biretrograde day and date displays glide over a lacquered Leman Blue base, forming an elegant contrast between iridescent delicacy and technical precision. The subdials for the month and leap year retain their symmetry, while the moonphase—rendered in blue aventurine with twin gold moons—anchors the design at six o'clock.
Each of the five visible dial layers carries a specific finish: circular brushing, polished angles, or transferred numerals. The depth feels deliberate, never excessive, reflecting the founder's belief that fine watchmaking should reveal its complexity only upon close inspection.
Inside: a restored heartbeat
Powering the Hommage La Placide is caliber RD1472, a fascinating mechanical revival combining the RD14 automatic base and RD72 perpetual calendar module. Both components originate from the early 2000s and have been entirely restored and recalibrated in-house. Each RD14 movement was disassembled, inspected, and rebuilt to modern standards, including new gear-train geometry for better efficiency.
The movement still carries the brand's early hallmark: a swan-neck regulator and an in-house balance spring, both rarities today. More than 300 components are hand-finished using 15 traditional decorations—Geneva stripes, mirror polishing, and perlage among them—and, fittingly, the Poinçon de Genève seal crowns the final assembly. A pink-gold rotor completes the composition, bringing a quiet rhythm visible through the sapphire back.
A bridge between eras
For collectors, this model symbolizes an important reconciliation. It acknowledges the mechanical rigor of Roger Dubuis's first decade while maintaining the expressive construction language of today's atelier. It's also notable for its smaller proportions, echoing a time when 38 mm was the definition of elegance rather than modesty.
Compared to the Excalibur Biretrograde Calendar, launched earlier in 2025, the Hommage La Placide trades aggression for poise. Both share the same mechanical principle, but where the Excalibur dramatizes, the Hommage refines. One could imagine the latter on the wrist of a seasoned collector rather than a stage performer—a watch that speaks softly yet holds remarkable depth.
Collector's view and closing thoughts
The Hommage La Placide is not just a commemorative release; it's a declaration that heritage and progress can coexist. Its limited run of 28 pieces ensures exclusivity, but its real value lies in how it reframes what “classic Roger Dubuis” can mean in the modern landscape. For those who remember the Hommage Chronographs or the early Sympathie models, this piece feels like closure—a circle completed with grace.
At €115,000 before taxes, the watch sits firmly in the haute-horlogerie segment, yet its emotional resonance might be priceless for long-time admirers of the brand. Roger Dubuis has always oscillated between extravagance and discipline; with the Hommage La Placide, it seems the pendulum has finally found its perfect midpoint.
Editor's Note
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