Geneva Watch Days: Daniel Roth’s Tourbillon Rose Gold Casts a Warm Glow

The new limited edition of 20 pieces follows last year’s 20-piece Tourbillon Souscription in yellow gold, which updated and refined Roth’s first milestone watch from 1988, the Tourbillon Ref. 2187/C187.
 

For the Tourbillon Rose Gold, each piece will be individually numbered on the dial starting from 21, picking up from where the Tourbillon Souscription left off. Such extreme exclusivity is dictated by the extraordinary level of art, craft, and time invested in each piece.

Consequently, a maximum of 50 Daniel Roth Tourbillons will be produced annually.
 

Like the Souscription, the Tourbillon Rose Gold follows the lead of the Tourbillon C187. This piece that established Roth as an independent watchmaker after 14 years spent resurrecting Breguet for the modern watch connoisseur.

In fact, the tourbillon with a unique double-ellipse case is his most widely recognized creation, defining Roth’s design language and advancing the craft with a large tourbillon on the dial.

The piece’s “guillochage en ligne” pink gold dial is matched to the 38.6 x 35.5mm 5N pink gold case for a pleasing pink-on-pink color scheme.

“Rose gold is a rich, vivid, and striking precious metal that is modern in appearance yet widely used in classical watchmaking,” said Matthieu Hegi, artistic director of Daniel Roth, in the press release for the Tourbillon Rose Gold.
 

“It is a perfect evolution from the vintage feel of the yellow gold used for the Tourbillon Souscription.”

Hegi also explained that this pink-on-pink combination is meant to evoke historical wrist and pocket watches, much like Roth’s original creations. “At the same time, the complementary nature of the rose gold case paired with a rose gold dial is an example of the distinctive, elegant aesthetic that defines Daniel Roth,” he said.

Although most of the original C187s had silver or gray dials, the Tourbillon Rose Gold’s pink gold dial features contrasting applied chapters and scales in sterling silver, resulting in a less “flat” look than the almost monochrome C187. The pink metal is further contrasted with markings printed in glossy black lacquer and black-coated stainless steel hands.
 

Like the Tourbillon Souscription, the dial is produced in collaboration with the renowned engine-turning atelier of Kari Voutilainen.

Working by hand using a straight-line engine, the engraver painstakingly etches each parallel vertical line one by one to decorate the rose gold dial plate with the “guillochage en ligne” pattern found in most examples of the original C187.
 

While the earliest C187s had dials finished with hobnail guilloche, which was also evident on the Tourbillon Souscription, Roth has made the linear motif one of his trademarks.

The C187’s defining characteristic was its distinctive case, which has a double-elliptical form blending square and circular shapes. Roth conceived the curvilinear frame to cast the oversized tourbillon at 6 o’clock in its best light.

Interestingly, while this latest incarnation is indistinguishable from the original at a glance, the 38.6mm x 35.5mm case has been refined to better accommodate the slimmer profile of the DR001 calibre.
 

Moreover, the curved lugs were also redesigned to echo the case’s rounded lines while enhancing the Tourbillon Rose Gold’s ergonomics on the wrist.

Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini, master watchmakers at Daniel Roth and the founders of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, developed the DR001 calibre entirely in-house from the ground up, paying tribute to traditional Swiss haute horlogerie that Roth so reveres.
 

“Having known Daniel for many years before the revival of Daniel Roth, we understood his philosophy, with its emphasis on tradition, quality, and details, so we instinctively knew the DR001 had to be peerless in every way,” explained Navas and Barbasini in the release. “We also understand Daniel’s preference for elegance and subtlety, so we designed the DR001 to showcase discreet but perfect finissage that connoisseurs will appreciate under a loupe.”

And the Tourbillon Rose Gold flaunts it through a sapphire crystal caseback, unlike the Tourbillon Souscription, which had a solid caseback.
 

Bridges are finished with Côtes de Genève with the stripes vertically aligned to match the linear guilloché on the dial and are further refined with anglage, rounded, beveled edges that are mirror polished for a sharp, radiant outline.

Additionally, the wheel driving the tourbillon is secured by a curved, black-polished steel bridge, while its pivot jewel sits in a gold chaton, one of three gold chatons in the movement.

The extraordinary attention to detail is also evident on the dial side with the tourbillon framed by the fan-shaped tri-sectioned seconds display. The steel tourbillon bridge and carriage are hand-polished to a gleaming mirror finish. Even the tiny screws that hold the carriage together have mirror-polished heads and chamfering along the edges and slots.
 

Earlier this year in Miami, the pair recalled presenting the design for the resurrected Tourbillon Souscription to its 77-year-old inventor, who they reverently referred to as “a watchmaker’s watchmaker.” Roth, they said, was almost moved to tears.

For more information, check out the Daniel Roth website.