Introducing the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Quatuor, presented in a 48 mm rose gold case (shown) or a limited edition silicon case, the Excalibur takes the brand’s premiere watch collection, to the next level.

The Excalibur Quatuor dial is dominated by the four visible balance wheels, and with an hour and minute dial in the center. The balance assemblies are mounted at 45 degrees (they do not rotate like tourbillons). The escapements work in pairs to compensate immediately for the rate variations caused by the changes in position. Five differentials link the balances to the gear train, smoothing out the influences of gravity in real-time.

There are two case options: 18K rose gold or a new silicon case. We’ve never seen silicon used in high-end watch cases, but like with watch components, there are significant advantages. According to the manufacture, “Silicon has been chosen for its uniquely low weight and its incomparable hardness. In fact, it is half the weight of titanium, which is half the weight of steel, yet it is 4 times harder.”

Inside is caliber RD0101, a hand-wound movement with 590 components, 4 balances, 5 differentials and an operating frequency of 16Hz (115,200 vph). For comparison, a typical timepiece oscillates 3 to 4 Hz.

With so many tourbillons, double tourbillons and so on…the accuracy is not significantly improved. In this case, there is an improvement in accuracy. Roger Dubuis director of movement development Gregory Bruttin says, “The most important step in creating this piece was the work we did seven years ago on the Double Tourbillon. It took a long time to make it work, but it showed that, with a differential, we could successfully average (the rates of) two (timekeeping elements) to improve accuracy.”