You’ll Never Guess the Brand Behind This Compact, Classy Dress Watch

It’s a nod to the brand’s past, and maybe a hint at its future?

Close-up of a gold wristwatch with a blue dial, white and red markings, and a ridged crown on a blue background.

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Published November 12, 2025

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When I think of Roger Dubuis watches, I picture oversized, complicated, extravagant sports watches that compete with the likes of Richard Mille and Jacob & Co., thanks to wild watches like the brand’s series of 45mm skeletonized Lamborghini collabs and its crazy Knights of the Round Table watches that feature three-dimensional knights as hour markers.

But underneath that brash exterior is a company with some serious watchmaking capability and a back-catalog filled with gorgeous dress watches. In fact, Roger Dubuis, which was founded by its namesake master watchmaker in 1995, didn’t even release its first sports watch until 2004.

During the first decade of its life, the brand was best known for its original Hommage collection, a series of traditional dress watches inspired by some vintage references from Patek Philippe, one of the companies for which Dubuis worked before striking out on his own.

Now, in honor of the brand’s 30th anniversary and its late founder, who passed away in 2017, Roger Dubuis has brought back the Hommage as a brand-new model that is shockingly compact, classy and stunning.

Rose gold watch with blue leather strap and multi-function blue and white dial showing perpetual calendar and moon phase. — The latest watch from Roger Dubuis is as unexpected as it is beautiful.

Paying Hommage

The new Hommage La Placide — named for Mr. Dubuis’ childhood nickname — brings back the classic round case of the original Hommage series from 1996, but it’s been completely rebuilt and reengineered. It was also manufactured in-house by Roger Dubuis, a relative rarity for a luxury watch brand.

The case is made of 18K pink gold and measures 38mm across and just 11mm thick. Those are impressive proportions for any perpetual calendar, but for Roger Dubuis — which exclusively trades in massive watches for its men’s collection these days — it’s especially noteworthy.

Rose gold Roger Dubuis watch with visible mechanical movement and textured dark blue leather strap. — The movement boasts a total of 15 different types of decorative finishes.

The movement, Cal. RD1472, combines the brand’s original in-house calibre, the Cal. RD14 automatic, with its perpetual calendar module, Cal. RD72. It is ludicrously decorated with 15 different types of finishes, and it has received the prestigious Geneva Seal certification, a signature feature of the brand. The perpetual calendar was the late Mr. Dubuis’ favorite complication, and it’s executed here via his trademark biretrograde display, originally patented by Dubuis in 1989.

On the left side of the dial sits an applied elliptical display made of mother-of-pearl showing the days of the week, with a mirrored display on the right showing the date. At 12:00 is a mother-of-pearl counter showing the month and leap year, while a 6:00 moonphase register combines blue aventurine, mother-of-pearl and a yellow gold moon.

Close-up of a Roger Dubuis watch dial with perpetual calendar, moon phase, and blue background. — The perpetual calendar features the brand’s trademark biretrograde day-date display.

The dial’s main plate is lacquered in a gorgeous shade of blue dubbed “Leman Blue” and is inspired by Lake Geneva, the signature natural feature of the maison’s picturesque Swiss hometown. The strap is matching blue leather and is equipped with a pink gold deployant clasp featuring the original Roger Dubuis logo, which is also used for the crown’s signature.

Pricing and availability

Outside of the biretrograde display, which is a dead giveaway, I’d never guess this was a Roger Dubuis. The compact size, the sense of restraint and the classic beauty are not things that come to mind when I think of the brand’s timepieces today.

Rose gold watch with blue dial, multiple calendar subdials, moon phase indicator, and blue leather strap. — More of this, please.

The new Hommage is a nod to the brand’s past, but I hope it also points to the future of the maison, as I’d love to see more of this from Roger Dubuis. All of its watches are horologically impressive, but I think their imposing size and polarizing designs keep Roger Dubuis out of a lot of conversations that the brand deserves to be in. The Hommage La Placide should have a very broad appeal and hopefully will get people to pay a little more attention to this brand.

Most will have to honor the Homage La Placide from afar, however, as the brand has limited production to just 28 pieces priced at €115,000 (~$133,000) each.

Rose gold perpetual calendar wristwatch with blue dial, moon phase display, and blue leather strap.

Roger Dubuis Hommage La Placide

Specs

Case Size	38mm
Movement	Roger Dubuis Cal. RD1472 automatic perpetual calendar
Water Resistance	N/A

$133,000 at Roger Dubuis

About the Author:

Johnny Brayson is an editor at Gear Patrol mostly covering watches. He enjoys watches that are packed with blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em details and believes nearly every watch could stand to be a tad smaller.

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