Baselworld 2007 - Daniel Roth

Daniel Roth has gradually been moving away from the Breguet-inspired look of its early years. This year marks the final transition of Daniel Roth to its revamped aesthetic. Now all the watches in its collection sport the new look, a successful reinterpretation of the traditional Daniel Roth design cues of guilloche dials and Roman numerals.

2007 is also significant because it proves something very important, that Daniel Roth can design and create entirely new models like Athys III and Lumière based on the new design principles, as opposed to just doing face-lifts of existing models. Now that the collection has been completely revamped, Daniel Roth can concentrate on creating new models and movements. Next year will no doubt be an even more exciting one.

The Athys III in rose gold

The Athys I and II were time only, hand wound watches. Both are elegant watches, but for the average wearer neither offers enough functionality for daily use. That brings us to the Athys III, an automatic with power reserve, moonphase and large date; for those who are undecided the date function will be the deal clincher. This will be a successful model, given its winning combination of function, price and quality.

The Athys III in white gold

Daniel Roth once used the Zenith ebauche as its chronograph base, but after the LVMH takeover of Zenith and the gradual ceasing of movement supplies, Daniel Roth now uses the Frederic Piguet cal. 1185. Shown below is the white gold cased, limited edition chronograph housing the one of the last El Primero movements left in Le Sentier; only 40 pieces will be created.

El Primero chronograph in white gold

The tourbillon with perpetual calendar is an existing model, but the dial has been redesigned. Like all the other Daniel Roth grande complications, the tourbilllon with perpetual calendar uses a dial that is complex and expensive, consisting of hand engraved 18-ct. gold and mother of pearl.

Automatic tourbillon with perpetual calendar in rose gold

Another existing model that has undergone a face-lift is the Perpetual Calendar with Equation of Time and days of the month indication. This watch offers an unusual complication, a days of the month indication which accounts for leap years, thus the wearer will know whether there are 28, 29, 30 or 31 days in the present month. Day and month are indicated on sapphire discs visible through a partially skeletonised dial. This is easily the most attractive perpetual calendar of the collection.

Perpetual Calendar with Equation of Time in white gold

Saving the best for last, now I present to you the extraordinarily beautiful Lumière Tourbillon. Designed from the ground up as a skeleton tourbillon, the Lumière is breathtaking.

Nearly all skeleton watches use existing movements which have their bridges cut out and engraved, as a result the final product is not always harmonious. In contrast, the Lumière contains a new movement, designed specifically as a skeleton. That is very apparent from the shape and flow of the bridges, as well as its transparency.

The primary measure of a skeleton watch is transparency, or how much light is let through the movement. Vacheron Constantin is widely regarded as one of the best skeleton watch creators today, mainly because it somehow manages to achieve an amazing degree of transparency. The Lumière is equally, if not more successful. Of course it enjoys the advantage of being designed from the ground up as a skeleton watch.

Flamed blued serpentine hands - a clever twist to the traditional arrow hands

Skeleton watches also need to convey a feeling of fragility - all those thin bridges and so much empty space. Once again the Lumière succeeds exceedingly well. It looks like it might get blow away by a gentle breeze.

In spite of the solid gold bridges and base plate, the 200 parts of the movement only weigh 18.9g (0.667oz). All wheels are plated in red gold to match the bridges and plates. The alternating matte and polished sunburst motif on the movement complements the rich colour of the red gold perfectly.

The unobtrusive power reserve indicator on the rear

The Lumière tourbillon ranks up there, along with the Girard Perregaux Three Gold Bridges skeleton, as one of the most stunning skeleton tourbillons. Only 50 of these magnificent tourbillons will be made.