Roger Dubuis has entered another year of its high-profile partnerships with Italian automaker Lamborghini; its racing team, Lamborghini Squadra Corse; and its official tire provider, Pirelli — and a distinctive horological-automotive design synergy once again dominated the Swiss watchmaker’s new offerings at SIHH 2019. Notable among these are two new models in its recently introduced Excalibur Huracán collection, both equipped with an all-new in-house movement and one outfitted with a special Pirelli-branded rubber strap.
Roger Dubuis’s Caliber RD630, the second developed by the company in cooperation with Lamborghini Squadra Corse, makes it debut in the latest version of the Excalibur Huracán, with a 45-mm titanium case, and it might be even more evocative of Lamborghini motor-racing DNA than the first. Heavily skeletonized like most modern Roger Dubuis calibers, it has a 12º tilted balance wheel, an innovation first used by the brand in its eye-popping Quatuor timepiece (which actually had four of them) in 2014; a honeycomb structure reminiscent of Lamborghini grilles built into the mainplate; and a hexagonal date window at 6 o’clock with distinctive speedometer-style numerals. The inclined sprung balance has been repositioned at 12 o’clock for maximum exposure on the front of the openworked dial, along with a new strut-bar-shaped bridge that echoes those on the V10 engine of the Huracan “supercar” for which this model is named. Despite the watch’s overall openness, the date disk is designed to remain hidden except for the current date numeral in the hexagonal aperture at 6 o’clock (the hexagon is a shape found often in Lamborghini design). As in this movement’s predecessor, it has a 360º central rotor inspired by a Huracan’s wheel rim, whose spinning effect brings to mind the wheels of a racecar at high speeds.
The titanium case, in Roger Dubuis’s “spider” design with its overmolded black rubber inserts and fluted bezel, features an additional automotive detail, a fluted crown evoking the look of a wheel nut. Two barrels storing a 60-hour power reserve are also visible from the dial side of the watch, flanking the date window. Behind the gold PVD-treated hands with white luminous tips, which sweep over rhodium-plated luminous indices, the movement’s shot-blasted, NAC coated bridges and mainplate are also in full view. This new, souped-up Excalibur Huracán (retailing for 45,000 Swiss francs, or about $45,230) is mounted on a bi-material strap combining a black rubber base stitched to a gray Alcantara inlay (Alcantara, of course, being the velvety-soft material used in Lamborghini interiors), completed with an adjustable folding buckle with a quick-release system. Caliber RD630 also powers an 88-piece limited edition called the Excalibur Huracán Performante, pictured above, which has a black DLC-coated titanium case, with Lamborghini-yellow highlights, and whose strap includes a rubber inlay with the tire-pattern design of Pirelli P Zero Trofeo tires, the ones used by Lamborghini Squadra Corse on the racetrack. The limited edition Performante model will be priced at 50,000 Swiss francs (about $50,250).
