LVMH Watch Week: Daniel Roth Introduces The Extra Plat ‘Souscription’

The first watches from Daniel Roth, when the company was brought back to life in March of 2023, was a tourbillon which took the design of Daniel Roth’s original CK187 tourbillon from 1989, and gave the design a very careful and respectful update, while at the same time introducing a new tourbillon movement, designed and produced at Louis Vuitton’s Manufacture La Fabrique du Temps in Geneva. The tourbillon was first released in a so-called “souscription” model, limited to 20 pieces – the “souscription” or subscription sales model, which was first used by Breguet, invites clients to place a 50% deposit in advance and then the balance when the watch was delivered.

The physical characteristics of the Souscription Tourbillon were unusual for a modern luxury watch but very traditional for a piece of classic fine watchmaking – it had a solid caseback, although the movement finishing and general quality were partially visible, thanks to the placement of the tourbillon cage on the dial side (as had been the case with Roth’s original CK187). The tourbillon would go on to be launched in a regular production model, with display back, which really showed off the beautiful and logical movement architecture, and which was a demonstration of a style of movement finishing which, while done to a very high level, did not feel like a piece of mechanical hyperbole and did not feel as if it were striving to impress; it radiated quiet confidence in its own quality.

The next model Roth produced came out in 1990, and was, in contrast to the complexity of the tourbillon, a simple “extra plat” or extra flat model – two hands, with a solid caseback, and Roth offered an automatic model, using the F. Piguet caliber 71 (48 hour power reserve) and a hand-wound model which dispensed with the automatic winding module. These both had quite slim cases, at 6.7mm for the automatic, and 6mm for the hand-wound model, and today Daniel Roth is releasing a Souscription model directly derived from the original C107 and C167 timepieces.

The new Souscription Extra Plat has a yellow gold case, 38.6mm x 35.5mm x 7.70mm and it is like the tourbillon, a faithful but not slavish version of Roth’s original design. The case is constructed by hand with the gently curved lugs soldered in place – the lugs are a bit more rounded than in the original models – and there is a godron wrapping around the case middle which passes through the lugs themselves.

The dial as was the case with the original models, decorated with a clous de Paris guilloché pattern. The guilloché is not stamped or produced with a CNC cutter; it’s done the old-fashioned way and as a matter of fact, with an old-fashioned machine; the rose engine on which the dial is engraved is from 1935 (many rose engines and straight line engines still in use today are antiques, although in recent years there has been a very small scale resumption of the production of such machines, along with the cams, or rosettes, which determine the pattern produced by the cutting head).

Traditional guilloché involves clamping the workpiece to the lathe and then manually controlling the speed and depth to which the graver cuts. Speed and depth both have to be consistent in order to get visually consistent results. Guilloché today is often imitated with CNC machines or stamping, both of which can produce pleasing results, but real guilloché produces a subtly grained texture which other methods can’t reproduce, and which gives the real thing a unique richness and sense of depth.

Although in the Souscription Extra Plat, the movement is not visible – as with the Souscription Tourbillon, the Souscription Extra Plat has a closed caseback – the movement, caliber DR002, is as distinguished in fit and finish as the tourbillon caliber DR001 which preceded it.

The layout as with the DR001 is logical, and visually harmonious and while all the techniques of traditional fine finishing are present – including very shallow Geneva stripes (low quality Geneva stripes tend to be too deep and to have a rough texture visually) rounded anglage, sharp internal corners where appropriate, and of course, polished countersinks for the screws, which have chamfered and polished heads and slots. The movement is quite thin, at 3.1mm, and has a 65 hour power reserve (unusual for an extra flat movement) and a freesprung balance, with timing regulated by eccentric screws on the rim. The movement is as well finished on the dial side as on the top plate side, with really gorgeously designed keyless works and all steelwork is straight grained, with chamfered edges.

As with the DR001, DR002 is traditional in its embellishments – often in modern high end watchmaking, in movements where finish is emphasized, there can be so many obvious attempts to dazzle the eye that the effect becomes almost a parody of fine finishing, which historically was simply a logical outcome of good workshop practices.

It seems probably that while the Souscription Extra Plat, which is limited to 20 pieces, has a closed caseback, there will be a future regular production model which allows the movement to be seen; as with the tourbillon collectors have an opportunity with the Souscription Extra Plat, to have a watch which reflects the aesthetics and prevailing workshop and design practices of the original models from the 1990s.

The Souscription Extra Plat is available this month, and like the tourbillon, is a sign of the degree to which the reborn Daniel Roth respects the vision and sensibilities of the company’s founder. These are watches which understand that, while it’s not necessary to reinvent the wheel, it is necessary to acknowledge Roth’s ideas with a careful combination of traditional techniques along with high grade technical watchmaking. The Souscription Tourbillon and Daniel Roth Tourbillon were two of the most coveted watches of 2023, and the Extra Plat is likely to follow in their footsteps in that regard as well.

The 1916 Company is proud to be an authorized retailer for Daniel Roth; contact us for availability.

The Daniel Roth Extra Plat ‘Souscription,’ ref. DBBE01A1: case, yellow gold, 38.6mm x 35.5mm x 7.70mm, water resistant to 30M. Dial, hand-guilloché engraved with clous de Paris pattern, manufactured in house, with heat blued hands. Movement, LFT caliber DR002, designed by Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini, hand-decorated, 31mm x 28mm, running at 4Hz in 21 jewels with 65 hour power reserve. For more info, visit DanielRoth.com.