Roger Dubuis

MTF
[PuristS]
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Roger Dubuis Pulsion Chronograph: Love and Hate

FrX,

Thanks for the opinion piece.

I was a tad confused at SIHH 2012 presentation.

They brought out the 4 videos that did not really explain the 4 watch lines except to emphasise: "Hey! We showed two lines before and now we have the remaining two lines that we can finally reveal...that we planned all along.... but could not tell you until today because you would not have understood until now how they all fit together in our master plan."

Then, they dragged out poor Mr Dubuis (nice guy) into the bright lights and said: "He's b-a-a-c-k-k !   Have a nice day at SIHH."

I agree and disagree about the Roger Dubuis Pulsion Chronograph observations.

A bit of background:

The current Mrs MTF and I started buying Roger Dubuis watches in 2000. usually matching colour scheme but different case shapes and sizes. These were the days when they made a bazillion "Limited Editions of 28 pieces"    All the watches developed illness and had to return to hospital many times. One watch even broke in my hands at the retail shop AND I still bought it... to-be-repaired before delivery! It went back to the hospital after delivery with the same manufacturing flaw...but that is a different story. This was before I found the PuristS and was educated......many pieces of RD watches soon "hit the secondary market".

Roger Dubuis Pulsion Chronograph is the most affordable and "safe" entry into RD watches today. It actually has a "useful" function. The sapphire glass as cover and bezel is a brilliant idea and distinctive. At this level and price, you want a distinctive watch.

The white 'Montblanc' motif on the screws holding the sapphire cover down is confusing.

This is a BIG watch, curved lugs or not, it is not a pansy hiding in the corner. It is a matter of personal taste but I guess the RD-crowd are not pansies. But the monolithic sapphire cover magnifies the size. If the watch case were smaller, the magnifying glass effect would have compensated. They missed the opportunity and could have got away with a 40 - 42 mm case for the best of both worlds:Satisfy the BIG watch lust but still have the normal watch size logistics......a novelty!

I like the mechanical work but the half-open dial is a bad idea. It reduces readability of the function and does not reveal much of the movement anyway. The primary function of a watch is ....er.....to read time. There is enough pleasure looking at the back of the watch if mechanical beauty is your lust.

Conclusion: For me, the well executed dial markers and hands deserve a solid dial to be shown to best advantage by a brilliant sapphire cover. I would even accept the large case size as a quirk of Roger Dubuis.

Regards,

MTF