Dare to be different

While other fine watchmakers try to counter the laws of gravity by perfecting the mighty tourbillon, Roger Dubuis' Excalibur Quatuor, unveiled at this year's SIHH, has pursued a different path.

Its hand-wound, 590-part calibre RD 101 features four sprung balances, which perform the same function as a tourbillon to correct the rate variation caused by gravity, as a watch constantly changes position when its wearer moves. However, what a tourbillon can do in a minute, the pending patented mechanism of four sprung balances achieves instantly.

The complex design, which Gregory Bruttin, the young and talented head of movement development, is responsible for, stunned Roger Dubuis. "It's crazy," says Dubuis, the founder who is now an ambassador for the brand. "First, it's amazing for [team Bruttin] to have ever thought about it and it's even crazier that they made it work."

To make it work wasn't easy. The four sprung balances were strategically placed, one in each quadrant of the watch, oscillating at different times to trick the laws of gravity. The four regulating organs that determine a watch's precision led to an impressive frequency of 16Hz for its basic movement, about four times that of an average watch.

The novelty continues to break grounds in complication and material with this novelty.

The Excalibur Quatuor features an original power-reserve indicator, patents applied for, incorporated into the moon-phase double display, improving readability on the semi-skeletonised dial.

With only three pieces available, the calibre is housed inside a silicon case. The material was chosen for its low weight and hardness - half the weight of titanium and four times harder than steel.