Hands On With The Unbelievably Beautiful Daniel Roth Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton

Announced last January during LVMH Watch Week, the Daniel Roth Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton is the first watch from the revived Daniel Roth company to break new ground, with respect to the vintage watches; Daniel Roth produced many different types of timepieces during its initial incarnation, but interestingly enough, it never produced an openworked or skeletonized watch. The Daniel Roth Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton made a strong impression in the supplied images – it’s a new model but it’s also a great example of the kind of watchmaking enthusiasts hope for from Daniel Roth – and in person, it’s even more convincing.

As we said in our original launch coverage, the basic placement of all the components is the same as in the non-openworked Daniel Roth caliber DR002. The gives us a layout in which the mainspring barrel’s upper jewel bascially acts as the 12:00 marker, with the center wheel directly underneath it, and with the movement third wheel, fourth wheel (the jewel for the fourth wheel is at 6:00, in a direct vertical line with the mainspring barrel and center wheel) and escape  wheel, which has antishock springs, as does the balance wheel. An interesting detail is the connection between the escape wheel cock, and the balance cock, which are connected by a sort of minute gold isthmus at the center of which is the jewel for the lever.

Technically, the balance and escape wheel are under a single bridge, as the escape wheel cock and balance cock are physically connected. The shape of the balance cock in caliber DR002SR is a complex form which reflects the shape of the bridge for the lever in cal. DR002. Seen from the back, the architecture bears a closer resemblance to DR002, with the balance cock and and escape wheel cock physically separated.

The openworking of the mainplate and of the movement bridges match each other almost exactly, although different components are more or less easily visible from either side. The hour and minute wheels for the hour and minute hands are slightly obscured from the back, while the keyless works are better seen on the dial side (or what would be the dial side if there were a dial) and the crown wheel, as well as the ratchet wheel, are better appreciated through the sapphire caseback.

The level of finishing is very high and there appear to have been no shortcuts taken anywhere in either the design of the movement or the finishing of the many bevels of the openworked mainplate and movement bridges. The anglage of the plate and bridges is mirror polished, with the flat upper surfaces straight grained on both sides; the keyless works as well are straight grained with polished flanks and bevels, and train wheels are all circular grained; the spokes of the train wheels are beveled and polished as well. Daniel Roth says that there is only one person at Louis Vuitton La Fabrique du Temps who is qualified to assemble the movement, which may seem surprising at first as this is after all a time-only watch; you would expect such restrictions to be more likely to obtain with a watch with complications, like a repeater or perpetual calendar. The issue is apparently that the movement is so highly polished that the slightest scratch would be instantly obvious and easily visible, so assembly is time consuming and requires great care and unflagging attention from the watchmaker.

Mainspring barrel ratchet wheel and click spring, rear view

Foot of the click spring; note the sharp exterior angles, and transition between the foot and the body of the spring, as well as the polished countersinks, straight graining, and mirror polished steady pins

This is true in principle of course, for any watch and any watchmaker – leaving traces of the slip of tweezers or a screwdriver is sloppy and bad practice whether you’re working on the humblest Sellita caliber, or a piece of haute horlogerie like this Daniel Roth – but certainly, with the Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton, the stakes seem much higher and with the entire movement exposed front and back, there is no place to hide.

One of the basic criteria for evaluating an openworked or skeletonized watch, is the degree to which the watch is transparent and on that criterion the DR Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton scores very high – it’s not quite as perilously whisper thin as some historic skeletonized movements, but it’s close, and in this case I think the fact that the bridgework is slightly thicker than you’d find on some legacy skeletonized watches, is an advantage; you get transparency without the metal looking so perilously thin that you begin to fear for the health of the watch.

It’s absolutely amazing to see what watchmakers in earlier decades were able to achieve when it comes to openworking existing movements – it hardly seems possible that they could have done what they did without the benefit of CNC machines and spark erosion, with just files and saws. Still, such a tour de force of technical skill can under some circumstances be distracting. Years ago, I saw a performance of Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas and there was a lot to admire, including the sheer level of athleticism of the performers – there were also, however, moments in the show and more than one where there was a real risk of physical injury or death, from which the performers were saved only by their physical skills and training. Later I found out that it is a truism that the difference between theater and the circus, is that in the circus there is a real risk of physical injury which is actually part of the show, while in the theater, despite what you see on stage, there is never any real chance of injury (this is with the caveat that accidents can still happen, but in the circus, that they can happen is explicitly part of the show in the way that it’s not in the theater).

The Daniel Roth Extra Plat Rose Gold Skeleton is designed and executed around a very characteristic philosophy of watchmaking, which is that technique is a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. You can see this in the finishing of the caliber DR002, where the finishing seems a modern extension of the evolution of finishing as a part of good workshop practices. The openworking of caliber DR002SR is a high wire act, sure, but you are when you look at the watch, not conscious of the technique; you are merely moved by its effect. As in the performing arts, the highest achievement of art is when it transcends itself, and you’re not aware of technique as such, at all.

For full specs and pricing, see our launch coverage from earlier this year.  The 1916 Company is proud to be an authorized retailer for Daniel Roth timepieces; please contact us for pricing and availability.