Roger Dubuis has frequently utilized the Hommage collection as a vessel for historical reverence, a canvas where the brand’s past and future intersect with deliberate intention. In 1995, the very inception of the Hommage line was driven by Mr. Roger Dubuis’ desire to honor the mentors, friends, and master watchmakers who shaped his early trajectory in the complex world of high horology. It was a gesture of gratitude turned into mechanical art. Three decades later, the narrative has come full circle. The Maison has turned its gaze inward, using the platform of the Hommage collection to honor the founder himself following his passing. This specific release, the Hommage Sukoon Al-Layl, emerges as a singular creation within the "La Placide" series, a moniker derived from Mr. Dubuis' childhood nickname which referenced his calm, serene demeanor. Unveiled exclusively at Dubai Watch Week, this unique piece bridges the personal temperament of a watchmaking legend with the cultural and atmospheric aesthetics of the Middle East, specifically drawing inspiration from the tranquil silence of a desert night.
The thematic core of this timepiece is encapsulated in its name, "Sukoon Al-Layl," which translates from Arabic to "Serenity of the Night." This is not merely a label but a guiding design principle that dictates the color palette, material selection, and textural execution of the watch. The concept aims to reflect the profound stillness found in the desert after sundown, a natural mirror to the quiet wisdom and gentle spirit that Mr. Dubuis was known for throughout his illustrious career. While the brand is often associated with hyper-modern, aggressive, and skeletonized designs in its contemporary catalog, this piece represents a return to the classical, though highly expressive, roots of Geneva watchmaking. It balances the "expressive aesthetics" the brand is currently known for with a more traditional, almost romantic reverence for astronomical complications, a field that Mr. Dubuis championed fervently. The integration of Arabic culture is subtle yet pervasive, linking the prowess of ancient Arabic astronomy with modern Swiss precision, creating a dialogue between two distinct heritages of celestial observation.
Courtesy of Roger Dubuis
Visually, the watch commands attention through a 38mm case crafted entirely from platinum PT950. This choice of metal is significant; platinum is dense, lustrous, and famously difficult to machine, but its specific white hue offers a radiance that stainless steel or white gold often lack. In the context of the "Sukoon Al-Layl," the platinum serves to mimic the silvery glow of the moon illuminating a dark landscape. The case architecture is traditional yet robust, featuring a polished finish that extends from the bezel to the case body and down to the lugs. The size is restrained by modern standards, harkening back to a more classic era of dress watches, which fits the "Hommage" designation perfectly. The weight of the platinum on the wrist provides a tactile reminder of the object's rarity and value, a physical grounding that contrasts with the ethereal theme of the design. The crown, also rendered in platinum, features the heritage Roger Dubuis emblem, a nod to the logos found on the brand's earliest creations, reinforcing the historical weight of this unique piece.
The dial of the Hommage Sukoon Al-Layl is a masterclass in multi-layered construction, designed to create a sense of depth and volume that draws the eye inward. It is not a flat surface but a topographical map of horological finishing. The base of this visual experience is a main plate adorned with a specific guilloché wave pattern. These waves are not arbitrary; they are designed to recall the ripples of sand shaped by desert winds, frozen in time and bathed in a deep "Astral Blue" lacquer. This color choice captures the precise hue of the night sky just before dawn, a moment of absolute stillness. The lacquer adds a liquid-like quality to the dial, allowing light to play across the guilloché ridges in a way that creates movement and life, even when the wrist is stationary. This dynamic interplay of light and texture ensures that the watch face never looks the same twice, shifting in tone depending on the ambient lighting conditions.
Rising above this blue foundation are the ecliptic segments and counters crafted from mother-of-pearl. Roger Dubuis was a pioneer in utilizing mother-of-pearl in men’s high complications, and its use here is both a heritage reference and an aesthetic necessity. The material’s natural iridescence provides a stark, cloud-like contrast to the disciplined geometry of the guilloché waves below. The flange, also executed in mother-of-pearl, rings the dial with a high-luster finish, featuring a transferred minute track and polished angles that catch the light. The leap year and month indicators, positioned at the top of the dial, along with the moon phase display at the bottom, utilize this same organic material, their surfaces hand-beveled to ensure a flawless transition between the layers. The text on these counters is transferred with precision, ensuring legibility without disrupting the serene pearlescent surface.
Courtesy of Roger Dubuis
The display layout itself is a complex orchestration of information, driven by the brand’s affinity for biretrograde mechanisms. Unlike standard circular sub-dials where a hand rotates 360 degrees, the retrograde hands for the day and date trace an arc before snapping back to zero instantly at the end of their cycle. The day of the week is displayed on the left sector, while the date is mirrored on the right. This "butterfly" arrangement is a signature of early Roger Dubuis perpetual calendars. The hands fly back in a fraction of a second, a violent mechanical action that contrasts sharply with the "serenity" of the design theme, perhaps symbolizing the fleeting nature of time itself. The hour and minute hands are crafted from 18K white gold, maintaining the monochromatic silver tone of the case, while the specific use of four Arabic numerals on the dial serves as a direct tribute to the region that inspired the watch’s name.
At the six o'clock position lies the moon phase indicator, a complication that anchors the astronomical theme of the watch. This component features a disc made of blue aventurine, a glass material infused with metallic inclusions that sparkle like stars in a night sky. Set against this glittering backdrop are two moon representations crafted from 18K yellow gold. The use of yellow gold here is deliberate and distinct; it is the only element of the watch to utilize this warm metal. This isolation draws the eye immediately to the moon phase and serves as a historical reference to the Maison's first perpetual calendars, which often featured yellow gold accents. The moons are slightly domed, giving them a three-dimensional presence that rises above the aventurine plane, further enhancing the sensation of looking through a window into the cosmos rather than simply reading a dial.
Turning the watch over reveals the mechanical heart of the piece, visible through the sapphire crystal caseback. The movement, Calibre RD1472, is a modern revival of a significant chapter in the brand's history. It fuses the upgraded RD14 automatic base with the celebrated RD72 biretrograde perpetual calendar module. The RD14 is historically significant as Roger Dubuis’ first in-house automatic movement, originally introduced in 2004. For this unique piece, the Maison has utilized a combination of original and remanufactured components, ensuring that the movement is both historically authentic and mechanically pristine. The architecture of the movement features "swan neck" regulators and "pistol" shaped bridges, distinctive shapes that were often found in high-grade pocket watches. These forms are not merely functional; they are aesthetic choices that honor the traditional Geneva watchmaking culture that Mr. Dubuis held dear, preserving a lineage of design that predates the brand itself.
Courtesy of Roger Dubuis
The RD72 module, which sits atop the base movement, dates back even further to 1999. It is a powerhouse of complication, managing the irregular lengths of months and the quadrennial leap year cycle without requiring manual adjustment (provided the watch is kept wound) until the year 2100. To bring this vintage module up to modern standards, the Maison remanufactured the main plate, the large bridge, and approximately 50% of the functional components, including levers, springs, wheels, and pinions. This extensive re-engineering was performed entirely in-house, demonstrating the manufacture's ability to restore and upgrade its own archival technology. The result is a movement that functions with the reliability of a modern calibre while retaining the soul and layout of a neo-vintage masterpiece.
A critical aspect of this movement is its certification. The entire assembled watch—not just the movement—is subject to the rigorous standards of the Poinçon de Genève (Geneva Seal). While the brand has long adhered to these standards, the requirements were updated in 2012 to include testing of the cased-up watch, covering water resistance, accuracy, power reserve, and functional reliability. The RD1472 meets these stringent criteria. The finishing is exemplary, with every component, visible or not, decorated by hand. The bridges feature Côtes de Genève stripes, the edges are chamfered and polished, and the screw heads are mirror-polished. The rotor, newly manufactured for this edition, is crafted from 18K pink gold, adding a warm, luxurious contrast to the rhodium-plated bridges. It is skeletonized to allow a better view of the mechanics beneath and oscillates with the kinetic energy of the wearer to wind the mainspring.
The strap pairing for the Hommage Sukoon Al-Layl is as thoughtful as the case itself. It is crafted from "Astral Blue" calfskin leather, perfectly matched to the lacquer of the dial. However, in a move that signifies the extreme exclusivity of this piece, the stitching is not done with standard thread but with a platinum thread. This rare detail is subtle, likely only noticeable to the wearer upon close inspection, but it speaks to the "no compromise" philosophy of the project. The strap is secured by a triple-folding buckle, also machined from platinum PT950. The buckle cover features the same heritage logo found on the crown and dial, unifying the branding across the entire timepiece. The use of platinum for the buckle significantly increases the weight and security of the watch on the wrist, serving as a counter-balance to the head of the watch.
Courtesy of Roger Dubuis
The distinctiveness of the Hommage Sukoon Al-Layl lies in how it navigates the tension between the past and the present. It does not look like the aggressive, spider-like Excalibur models that dominate Roger Dubuis' current marketing. Instead, it feels like a time capsule that has been opened and refined with modern techniques. It captures a specific era of the brand—the late 90s and early 2000s—when Roger Dubuis was establishing itself as a master of traditional complications with a slightly avant-garde twist. The "biretrograde" layout was a defining characteristic of that era, a way of displaying information that was both technically impressive and visually entertaining. By reviving this layout in a platinum case with such intricate dial work, the brand is acknowledging that its heritage is as powerful a tool as its futuristic innovations.
Furthermore, the connection to Dubai Watch Week creates a specific cultural context for the release. By tailoring the design to reflect the "Serenity of the Night" in a desert setting, Roger Dubuis demonstrates a deep respect for the region's appreciation of high horology. The Middle East has long been a stronghold for serious watch collectors, particularly those who appreciate independent and high-complication watchmaking. This piece serves as a dialogue with those collectors, offering them something that is aesthetically resonant with their environment while remaining deeply rooted in Swiss tradition. The Arabic numerals are integrated naturally, not forced, and the color palette of cool blues and silvers respects the "Sukoon" theme of tranquility and peace.
The technical prowess required to execute the guilloché, the mother-of-pearl inlay, and the aventurine processing cannot be overstated. Each of these materials behaves differently under the tool. Mother-of-pearl is brittle and prone to cracking, requiring a delicate touch when being cut into the complex shapes of the ecliptic segments. Aventurine glass is equally fragile, and setting it with gold moons requires precision to avoid shattering the starry disc. The guilloché on the main plate requires a steady hand to ensure the "waves" are uniform and reflect the light correctly. The fact that these disparate materials come together to form a cohesive, multi-layered dial without looking cluttered is a testament to the design team's ability to manage visual hierarchy. The information is dense, but the use of contrasting textures allows the eye to separate the calendar functions from the time-telling functions with ease.
Courtesy of Roger Dubuis
In the broader context of the "La Placide" series, this watch stands as a poignant reminder of the man behind the name. Mr. Roger Dubuis was a towering figure in the industry, having cut his teeth at Patek Philippe before launching his own audacious brand. His "Placide" nature—calm, collected, serene—might seem at odds with the loud, bold watches the brand eventually became famous for, but the Hommage collection has always been the quiet corner of the catalog where his spirit resided most strongly. The Sukoon Al-Layl is perhaps the ultimate expression of this, eschewing bright neon colors and carbon fiber for the quiet dignity of platinum and the organic beauty of mother-of-pearl. It honors him not by shouting, but by whispering, much like the silence of the desert night it emulates.
As a singular creation, the Roger Dubuis Hommage Sukoon Al-Layl is limited to a production run of exactly one piece. It is a "unique piece" in the truest sense, ensuring that its owner will possess a fragment of horological history that can never be replicated. The watch is a Boutique Exclusive, meaning it will not be found in the windows of authorized retailers but is reserved for the brand's internal network of top-tier clients. The pricing, as is customary with unique pieces of high complication in platinum, is "Price on Request." This categorization usually implies a significant investment, reflecting the material costs of platinum and gold, the labor-intensive finishing of the Geneva Seal movement, and the sheer exclusivity of a 1-of-1 commemorative edition. It is a rare opportunity for a collector to acquire a piece that so perfectly encapsulates the history of the founder, the technical DNA of the brand, and the specific cultural homage to the Middle East.
Case: 38mm diameter. Platinum PT950 bezel, case body, crown, and case back. Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating. Exhibition case back.
Movement: In-house Calibre RD1472 automatic. Fuses upgraded RD14 base with RD72 biretrograde perpetual calendar module. 307 components. Poinçon de Genève certified. 18K pink gold rotor. Features swan neck regulator and pistol bridges. Functions include day, date, month, leap year, and moon phase.
Dial: Multi-layer construction. Astral Blue guilloché and lacquered main plate. Mother-of-pearl flange, ecliptic segments, and counters with hand-beveled chamfers. Aventurine moon phase disc with 18K yellow gold moons. 18K white gold hour and minute hands. Four Arabic numerals.
Strap: Astral Blue calfskin leather with rare platinum thread stitching. Platinum PT950 interchangeable triple folding buckle with heritage logo.
Price: Price on Request (Unique Piece)
Reference Number: DBHO0611
Notes: Unique piece (1 of 1) unveiled at Dubai Watch Week as part of the "La Placide" series honoring founder Roger Dubuis. Designed with a "Sukoon Al-Layl" (Serenity of the Night) theme inspired by the desert night.