Preface
Conventionally, the format of a deconstruction is to dismantle timepieces over a three day period starting from a completed watch and document the process. In this instance, the format, although presented as a deconstruction, was executed in reverse. Over three weeks, we followed the assembly of the RD180 as it was re-built. In addition to the conventional explanation of the function of each section of the watch, we also explain some of the transformations that were made to the original calibre in order to make the final watch to the specifications cited by Mr Roger Dubuis.
Following our introduction the format of this deconstruction is broken down into the following sections:
Chronograph
Repeater
Perpetual calendar and moon phases
Timepiece
The Reason
A unique multi-complication timepiece made during the life of and influenced by the brand’s founder. Based on an unfinished, antique calibre.
Introduction.
Early in the development of the Roger Dubuis brand, Mr Dubuis purchased several antique, unfinished movements with various complications. His goal was to finish them respecting the Geneva Hallmark.
This particular movement was the only one to be made into a wristwatch and comprised of 770 components finished using traditional techniques and tools, (tooling sometimes redeveloped in order to aline with the original construction of the original movement). During the course of 3 years of development, the watch required 3,500 hours of work, including 2,000 hours of manual watchmaking. The remaining time was a combination of design, construction, engraving and allied crafts.
The Millesime Series began in 2001, there were 2 wristwatches and 1 pocketwatch in the series.
Functions
Central hour and minute hands. Small seconds hand subsidiary dial at 9 o'clock.
Split-seconds chronograph set in the centre with instantaneous minute recorder (30-minutes) set at the 3 o'clock subsidiary dial. Start-stop and return to zero from the winding crown pusher, split seconds activated through the rectangular pusher.
Perpetual calendar with retrograde day and date hands positioned at the centre of the dial. Month indication in the 6 o'clock subsidiary dial with a leap year indication window set into it.
52-week indication set on the inside of the outer chronograph seconds chapter ring. Moon phases are set at 12 o'clock.
Minute repeater, activated by the slider set on the 9 o'clock side of the case.
Technical specifications
Case: 18K rose gold, diameter 48mm, thickness 18mm. Sapphires back and front with anti-reflective coating. Case non-water resistant.
Movement calibre: RD180. 770 components. Hand-winding mechanical movement. Power-reserve of 32 hours. Timing adjusted in six positions. 40 jewels. Diameter: 17’’¾ ligne, 40mm. Thickness: 10.80mm Frequency: 2.5Hz (18’000 vph).
Perpetual calendar correctors between the shoulders.
Perpetual calendar and moon phases correctors between the shoulders.
Winding crown (inc rectangular split seconds pusher and central winding crown chronograph start-stop pusher).
Repeater slider
The engraving on the movement bridges is based on the hand writing of Mr Roger Dubuis.
Swiss Made
The below images, (provided by Roger Dubuis SA), show the condition of the movement as it was received, prior to being finished.
Bottom left, the extended/unshortened lever that is pushed upon by the external operating slider. This piece was adjusted when the watch was cased up to the correct form and length, associated with the case.
The material of the movement is German Silver (Maillechort).
The work of finishing and transformation of the movement was considerable and is partly noted on the following images. The movement as shown was never originally finished. Although well advanced, the mechanism was not yet functional, much of the decoration had never been finished and elements like screws had not been adjusted, hardened or decorated.
Above you can see the shortened operating lever to the right of the movement which activates the repeater mechanism.
The operating lever assembled in the movement, protruding from the side of the mainplate.
The operating lever removed from the watch. It pushes on the pieces to the left to both wind the repeater mechanism, activate it and define the number of hours to be sounded by pushing against the hour cam.
With the case back removed you can begin to see the three-dimensional structure and strength of the calibre construction.
All of the steel work is hardened and annealed (slightly softened) before being decorated.
The Chronograph
The two central hands, blue and silver coloured are the split chronograph seconds hands. After the chronograph has been activated by the pusher at 2 o’clock and the pusher in the winding crown is pressed, the silver hand is stopped and the lower blue hand previously hidden continues to turn, until it is stopped using the 2 o’clock pusher.
The small subsidiary dial at 3 o’clock is the 30 minute recorder.
Hidden under the dial and through the movement are the below components that carry the hands. The perpetual calendar retrograde hands and the week hand are in addition to the original functions.
The assembly of all of the wheels that carry the 7 hands for the time, date and chronograph.
The dismantled assembly of wheels that carry the 7 hands.
The rear view of the watch-head with the case back removed showing the full view of the movement.
The gongs circling the movement in full view, normally hidden by the case back.
The Geneva hallmark is reproduced several times on the watch, here shown engraved on the case centre usually hidden by the case back.
The gold coloured wheel is the instantaneous minute recorder wheel for the chronograph mechanism.
The movement removed from the case without the gongs.
The large steel bridge below is part of the coupling clutch for the chronograph mechanism. It moves on demand, in and out of engagement with the central chronograph wheel activating the movement of the mechanism.
The form of the coupling clutch bridge was redesigned and changed at the direction of Mr Dubuis to coincide with the form of the number ‘8’, his ‘lucky number’.
The dismantled coupling clutch
The coupling clutch shown here was reverse engineered based on the original.
There are two pillar/column wheels in the chronograph. The one below (hidden under the disk) controls the start/stop/return to zero of the chronograph, the second controls the split seconds function.
The main pillar/column wheel assembly
The large spring indexes the pillar wheel each time it is activated.
The highest bridge on the movement engraved with the Geneva hallmark holds down the split-seconds wheel. This wheel runs through the chronograph seconds wheel central arbor.
This assembly resembling ‘tongs’ is the part that when released by its column wheel (shown below) holds the split seconds wheel generating the split seconds function stopping the split seconds hand.
The slim ‘m’ shaped piece is the spring acting on the tongs to close the assembly.
The split seconds column wheel under the circular disk
Profile view showing the side view of the tongs (brake system) for the split seconds wheel.
The chronograph seconds wheel to the left and the split seconds wheel to the right.
The jeweled arm on the split seconds wheel pushes against the heart shaped cam on the chronograph seconds wheel. When the split seconds wheel is released the jeweled arm forces the wheel to zero on the lowest section of the heart shaped cam.
In the centre of the image, the small ‘person’ shaped plate holds down the coupling clutch and allows it to pivot from the head section. Between the legs is a ‘screw-like’ head that is actually an eccentric plug, that when turned moves the head altering the position of the coupling clutch and the penetration of the wheel it carries.
The triangular profile form of the teeth are synonymous with this function in chronographs in order to aid in the penetration adjustment of the wheels that in turn affects the smooth operation of the chronograph seconds hand..
The gold-coloured wheel to the left is the minute wheel recorder, to its right is a steel hook-shaped piece that pulls it instantaneously every sixty seconds. It is upon this wheel that the minute recorder hand sits.
To the left of the main gold coloured wheel is a small ‘pawl’ (the spring with the triangular shaped end pushing against the wheel) that indexes it assuring it is aligned with the minute markers on the dial.
The Minute Repeater
The repeater assembled with the hands, dial and perpetual calendar mechanism removed.
The marks circling the exterior of the movement associate to minutes and are used by the watchmaker when he/she is in the process of adjusting the repeater mechanism and assuring the hours, quarters and minutes are all correctly synchronised.
To the left is one of the two hammers that strike on the gongs. The foot holding the two gongs is the large rectangular piece held down by two screws.
‘RD180’ & ‘Dubuis’ hand engraved following the hand writing of Mr Roger Dubuis.
The hammers were flat mirror finished by hand, as were their angles.
The upper hammer with cut-outs allowing space for the chronograph mechanism.
To the left of the hammer is the system that governs the speed for the repeater mechanism.
In between the two hammers under the central plate is the mainspring for the repeater mechanism.
In this image we see Geneva stripes on the surface of the bridges, black (mirror) finish on the hammers and screws, spotting on the mainplate, angling on all steel work, straight graining on the bridge below the Geneva strips..
The click for the repeater barrel ratchet.
The ratchet wheel which is part of the repeater barrel is turned when the repeater is first set up and held in place by the click to the left.
In the center of the image can be seen a square arbour with a rounded end, under this is a snail-shaped cam followed by a pinion. The part of the arbour hidden on the other side of the movement is connected to the mainspring that drives the repeater mechanism. When armed it drives the lower pinion shown here, gathering the racks that in turn move the trips activating the hammers and hitting the gongs sounding the time.
Two of these three pieces are visible in the previous image but they all sit one on top of the other on the repeater mainspring barrel arbor. The piece to the left is the hour rack that pushes one of the hammer trips in turn sounding the hours.
The minute and quarter racks assembled in the movement, in their default relaxed position.
When the repeater is activated these two racks fall into the minute and quarter cams. Depending on the distance they fall dictates the number of quarters and minutes to be struck.
The minute rack sounding the minutes is the upper piece, the quarter rack sounding the quarters is the lower one.
This same system that was developed over a century ago is the same basic design used today on modern repeaters.
The teeth on the upper, outer edges of the racks are those that push against and activate the trips, pulling the hammers.
Two of the four trips assembled, the lower aligns with the quarter rack the upper with the minute rack.
The four hammer trips
Conventionally the trips were not jeweled, here they have been to reduce friction.
The gongs
The sound is adjusted by the length of the gongs combined with adjusting the thickness of the point of attachment by the foot they are fixed into.
The Perpetual Calendar and Moon Phase
The correctors for the calendar mechanism are located between the shoulders. The slider at 9 o’clock on the case is for activating the repeater.
The two large sectors bridges at 11 and 4 o’clock on the image are spacers that support the dial.
The central month cam turns once per year. It is the brain of the perpetual calendar (QP) that governs the number of days in each month.
The length of February and the leap years is governed by the small piece set in the central month cam at 4 o’clock.
The month cam to the left and the day star wheel to the right.
The assembly to the right of the day star wheel is its manual corrector.
The full perpetual calendar module with upper bridges and spacers removed.
The majority of the large steel levers around the periphery of the module are the manual correctors used for programming the calendar and the moon phase disk.
The coiled springs below are linked to the retrograde hands and are armed as the date is advanced. Under the tension of these springs the retrograde hands are returned to their starting points.
The white disc indicates the leap year, B for ‘année bissextile’.
The three jewels forming a triangle around the centre week wheel create a bearing surface for the largest wheel to assure it remains flat and doesn’t tilt.
The moonphase wheel is turned by the small pinion to the left.
The moons are made from gold and the sky lapis lazuli
The Timepiece
Before and after
Below is an example of the transformation made to the movement through the decoration of the main-plate. There are several bridges missing from the first image but the amount of work executed can be seen. Every part of the calibre was decorated before being rhodium plated. Here we can see the use of spotting as well as the various small hand engraved details that were added and gold filled.
Certified Poinçon de Genève, Geneva Hallmark.
Roger Dubuis SA requested the Poinçon de Genève administration to have the piece directly engraved by the official engraver in charge of the engraving of the tools for the certification. In order to reinforce the man-made element, since the watch was truly unique and “artisanal”. The difference can be seen by the detail and deepness to the hallmark.
The movement with the chronograph removed and the repeater in place.
The movement with the repeater and chronograph removed.
recto
The bare underside of the movement
verso
The split bimetallic balance with Breguet over-coil and gold timing screws.
The underside of the balance wheel showing the impulse jewel for the balance wheel that receives energy from the Swiss anchor escapement causing it to oscillate.
The small piece above the impulse jewel is the safety roller which insures the Swiss anchor can not de-synchronise and slide on the other side of the impulse jewel.
The swans neck regulation system for the balance spring. The spring pushes the index against the adjustment screw locking the index in place and allowing it to be finely adjusted.
The index alters the effective length of the balance spring. Longer-slower, shorter-faster.
The Swiss anchor escapement
Escape wheel
Swiss anchor/lever
The extended pivot that passes through the dial and upon which the small seconds hand sits.
The setting mechanism
The cross slotted head is the shoulder screw that holds in place the setting lever which in turn holds in place the stem.
In winding position
In setting position
Recto-verso of the barrel
Ratchet wheel removed
Geneva stop work disengaged
Summary
Antique calibres such as the one that was used here can occasionally be found but are rarely restored because of the extensive work required to finish them. Here the movement was adapted into a wristwatch though adding shock-protection to the balance pivots and made more complex by the addition of a perpetual calendar and moon phases module creating a central 7 hand concentric assembly.
Although multiple trades were used in the process to finish the watch, the majority of the work was made by a single watchmaker who was guided by the brands’ namesake. When this type of movement was originally made, the multiple operations required to finish the movement were separated and made by many different artisans.
Apart from the functions this watch provides, this is an effective reference to a traditional form of Swiss watchmaking including Geneva stop-work, classical finishing, polished steel impulse and safety rollers pushed directly onto the balance staff and a plethora of other features.
To learn more about Roger Dubuis