sidebar to last year’s Watches and Wonders in Geneva, LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault was seen touring La Fabrique du Temps, the watch production arm of Louis Vuitton, the latter recently joined by Arnault’s youngest son, Jean. At the all-powerful visitor’s instigation, talk turned to a “sleeping beauty” in the group’s portfolio: the Daniel Roth brand, named for one of the leading figures in the revival of traditional watchmaking in the wake of the quartz crisis.

LVMH inherited the brand in 2011 as part of its acquisition of Bulgari, which ten years previously had taken over Gerald Genta and Daniel Roth.

The Tourbillon Souscription marks the return of the Daniel Roth brand and displays characteristic attention to detail. Now in his seventies and still based in Vallée de Joux, Mr Roth has an informal consultancy role for the relaunch.

Whatever the content of the ensuing conversation, it ended with the Daniel Roth brand being transferred under La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. Which is good news: not only is Jean Arnault, 24, genuinely and personally interested in well-crafted watches; Louis Vuitton’s movement and complications maker possesses all the necessary competencies to meet the demands set by Daniel Roth’s past production.

This is largely down to La Fabrique du Temp’s duo of master watchmakers, who have been instrumental in elevating Louis Vuitton timepieces to the highest spheres of complication. The revival of the Daniel Roth brand gives Enrico Barbasini and Michel Navas a project commensurate with their love of watchmaking at its most refined.

The stage is thus set to bring the brand out of hibernation, although one element perhaps carries more weight than the rest: the promise that future production will respect the work of Mr Daniel Roth, who is now almost 80 years old. From his home and workshop on the shores of Lac du Joux, he, his wife and their son make two or three watches a year, under a new name (read our profile here).

Two years ago we met Daniel Roth in Vallée de Joux. Working alongside his wife and son, under the eaves of their home overlooking Lac de Joux, he produces just a handful of watches a year.

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Daniel Roth at his workbench.

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While he has no formal role in the relaunched brand, Mr Roth will provide consultancy to ensure the success of this return to the very origins of his work. This is also the chance to repair a longstanding injustice towards a sensitive, sometimes reserved, always charming man: the French-born son of a Bible salesman who became a master watchmaker in the Vallée de Joux, and who has not always enjoyed the recognition he so amply deserves.

Indeed, he has had a monumental career: after early days with Audemars Piguet, where he fell in love with extra-thin watches, Daniel Roth was a protagonist in the revival of Breguet when it was owned by the Chaumet brothers, establishing a workshop for the brand in Le Brassus in 1976. For more than a decade, he helped put the inventor of the tourbillon on the map of contemporary watchmaking by adapting this complication for the wrist. Is it any wonder that when he went solo in 1988, he made extra-thin tourbillon watches his technical and aesthetic signature?

“La montre objet d’art” – the watch as an objet d’art: Daniel Roth’s motto foreshadowed the rebirth of mechanical watchmaking as an art in its own right; one to which he has greatly contributed. Article published in Europa Star in 1992.

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The early 1990s were the halcyon years of Daniel Roth watches. Thirty years later, the name is making a comeback.

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A contemporary of George Daniels, this pioneer of neo-independent watchmaking belongs to a generation who share a deep reverence for traditional methods, are averse to the commercial and technological upheavals of the 1980s and who reinvented the classic watch as a means of ensuring its survival. In doing so, they laid the foundations for the watch scene as we know it today, obsessed with legacy, craftsmanship, superlative finishing and classical aesthetics.

Where it all began: Daniel Roth’s double-sided tourbillon returns in a contemporary interpretation that stays faithful to the original.

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Classical… with a twist. For Daniel Roth, this departure from tradition would be his instantly recognisable double-ellipse case, an association of round and rectangular shapes. In 1988 London retailer Asprey placed an order for 25 double-sided tourbillons with a distinctive seconds display. This may seem like a fairly “standard” request today, given the tourbillon’s ubiquity, but it was anything but ordinary at the time. Commissioning a watchmaker who’d only been in independent business for a couple of years, when mechanical watchmaking was just beginning to rise from its post-quartz ashes, would have been something of a gamble.

It’s thanks to this “subscription” that Daniel Roth was able to finance the launch of his brand and his vision of watchmaking. And this same tourbillon, reference 2187 (later C187) - one whose elegant symmetry has marked history - is leading the contemporary rebirth of Daniel Roth under La Fabrique du Temps. A “back to basics”, in the most noble sense, that is also a sign of respect for the master watchmaker and his singular aesthetic.

“We have reprised the [double-ellipse] case design with one difference, the lugs, which are now curved as a marker of this new era for Daniel Roth,” says Jean Arnault, who spent time with Mr Roth in Vallée de Joux and in Geneva. “We want to respect the history, design language and heritage of the brand while introducing a modern touch.” The lugs thus situate this new period in the history of a brand whose production, as it passed through different hands in the late 1990s, became somewhat dispersed. Certain models are hard to classify still today.

A limited edition of 20 pieces, the Tourbillon Souscription is inspired by the 1988 original and incorporates a few subtle adjustments. The most important change concerns the lugs which have been given an elegant downward arch. The dial is by Comblémine, which belongs to another master watchmaker, Kari Voutilainen.

The Tourbillon Souscription that was unveiled this spring thus marks the first stage in the revival of Daniel Roth, a master watchmaker described by Jean Arnault as “a hero in the history of watchmaking and the first true independent.” Contemporary watchmaking is widely considered as an art form, but when Daniel Roth declared La montre objet d’art – the watch as an objet d’art - this was very much a new way of thinking.

Enrico Barbasini was working for Gerald Genta at the time. He recalls how “when Daniel Roth brought out his first tourbillon, we were speechless. The finishing was superb, far superior to anything else on offer in what was a barren landscape for the mechanical watch. He took us all by surprise.”

The new Tourbillon Souscription returns to the principal characteristics of this revolutionary model, with subtle updates. The case, which is executed in traditional yellow gold, an exclusivity of this edition, naturally presents a double-ellipse shape. The dial is solid yellow gold with Clous de Paris guilloché decoration, just as the 1988 original was. It is produced in the workshops of another leading name in independent watchmaking, Kari Voutilainen. Its typography has been refreshed for a more streamlined style.

Whereas the original was a two-sided model, as per Asprey’s request, the contemporary piece has a single dial, resulting in a thickness of just 9.2 millimetres. The lugs, still carefully soldered to the midcase, have been reshaped into an elegant downward arc for enhanced comfort.

Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini at La Fabrique du Temps, who will personally oversee the creation of each watch, have poured all their expertise into the DR001 movement. Manually wound, it provides a generous 80 hours of power reserve and was developed especially for the Tourbillon Souscription. It is a particularly noteworthy feat that, whereas the original was equipped with a round movement, Calibre DR001 is a form movement and an exact fit for the double-ellipse case.

The movement’s hand-finishing respects the standard set by such a master of the art, down to the mirror-polished screw heads. Multiple refinements include the bridge for the wheel that drives the tourbillon, in black-polished steel, and the mirror-polished winding click. A solid gold plate bearing each watch’s individual number sits atop this superlative movement.

The pièce de resistance of this Calibre DR001 is, of course, the tourbillon regulator, which reflects the singular nature of the original. Because it makes one revolution a minute, it can also be used to measure the seconds. Its cage carries a three-armed, heat-blued seconds hand which is read in combination with a three-part seconds scale on the dial – a signature of Daniel Roth tourbillon watches.

Again as on the 1988 original, Daniel Roth’s sense of detail comes to the fore, as the length of each arm is adjusted to the corresponding section of the seconds scale. For the longest of the three, a tiny groove is cut in the inner wall of the case for it to pass through. Framing the tourbillon on each side are plates decorated with Côtes de Genève, with a frosted plate under the tourbillon.

A 1991 article on Daniel Roth, published in Europa Star. His workshop employed the finest talent of the day and actively contributed to the mechanical watch’s revival, ultimately leading to the dominant position of Haute Horlogerie that has become familiar today.

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Daniel Roth’s tourbillon now has an heir. 1991 archive.

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The new project also aims to respect the original spirit of the brand in its functioning. Jean Arnault intends to manage Daniel Roth “like a start-up, the anti-industrial brand par excellence”, calling on the finest practitioners and at the same time taking advantage of the resources offered by La Fabrique du Temps. Production will be extremely limited, another nod to Daniel Roth’s early days. This debut timepiece is being offered to just 20 collectors at the price of CHF 140,000 on a subscription basis. Each collector pays a deposit when placing their order. The balance is due on delivery of the watch in early 2024.

“The response has been out of this world,” declared Jean Arnault, just days after the announcement. “We’ve had thousands of requests.” As is more and more often the case in Haute Horlogerie, the difficulty won’t be finding potential buyers but instead deciding who will be given the opportunity to acquire one of these timepieces. For this reason, the brand will work with a handful of the most reputable retailers, and specifically ones that specialise in independent and exclusive watchmaking.

“There will be no comprising on construction or finishing. This reflects a certain mindset which, where component finishing is concerned, is that of the nineteenth century. It is both an honour and a responsibility to perpetuate this legacy. Technical expertise must serve aesthetics. All the parts must be perfectly executed, including the ones you don’t see. In a way, a Daniel Roth is a watch by a watchmaker for watchmakers.”

An interview with Daniel Roth, published in 1997 in Europa Star. From today’s perspective, certain comments have an almost prophetic ring. The brand also produced steel chronographs, currently the stars of the watch scene, suggesting numerous future opportunities for the newly revived brand.

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As for what comes next, Daniel Roth’s catalogue is filled with creations that paved the way for contemporary watchmaking. After his first tourbillon, the master watchmaker brough innovation to the chronograph – today’s other must-have complication – with his 2147/C147, a twin register chrono fitted with a Lemania 2310 movement, as well as a limited-edition split-seconds chronograph powered by a Venus 179 calibre.

Adding to this list are his 2107/C107 extra-thin automatic, 2127/C127 retrograde and 2117/C117 perpetual calendar (which he developed with another of the great independents, Philippe Dufour). All three were housed inside his signature double-ellipse case. One of his most original mechanisms, the Papillon, was inspired by his father’s butterfly collection, as we learned when we visited Daniel Roth in his tranquil home in Vallée de Joux. A creature poised to finally take flight once again, much to the delight of a particular type of collector…

SPECIFICATIONS

Movement

• Calibre DR001: hand-wound mechanical movement, developed and assembled by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton
• One-minute tourbillon
• Height: 4.6 mm
• 206 components
• 80 hours of power reserve
• 21,600 vibrations per hour – 3Hz
• 19 jewels
• Tourbillon: flat balance spring
• Tourbillon cage: 460 mg

Case

• 3N 18k yellow gold
• Dimensions: 38.6 x 35.5 mm
• Height: 9.2 mm
• Flat anti-reflective sapphire crystal
• Water-resistant to 30 metres
• Lug width: 20 mm

Dial

• 3N 18k yellow gold with Clous de Paris guilloché
• Engraved DANIEL ROTH and the watch’s individual number
• Côtes de Genève on the plates framing the tourbillon
• Frosted finish on the plate under the tourbillon

Strap

• Brown calfskin leather

Buckle

• 3N 18k yellow gold pin buckle

Weight

• Approx. 77.5 g