Feel Like A Sorcerer With The Roger Dubuis Knights Of The Round Table, The Omniscient Merlin
How many Roger Dubuis Knights Of The Round Table collectors are there worldwide? There can’t be many, but I suspect the exclusive club is pretty hardcore. Hardcore collectors are meticulous, so I guess they have all 10 “KRT” creations that have come out since 2013 in chronological order in their enormous watch cabinets in trophy rooms high up the large western towers of their centuries-old castles, each overlooking a valley permanently covered in thick mist. Is that a dragon I hear roaring? Anyway, the 11th KRT release is upon us, and to experience the complicated, exclusive, and collectible watch in person, I went on a quest to Geneva to come face to face with the Roger Dubuis Knights Of The Round Table, The Omniscient Merlin.
Strangely enough, I wasn’t offered a mug of mead upon entering the Roger Dubuis stronghold in the town center but, rather, an espresso and a mango-flavored macaron. But things became mystical when the Roger Dubuis Knights Of The Round Table, The Omniscient Merlin was introduced. The 11th watch in the Round Table series takes inspiration from the enchanter Merlin, whose character is permanently entwined in the fables and legacy of King Arthur. But you’re mistaken if you expect to see the famous wizard on the dial along with the 12 knights. After all, a 13th figure on the dial would have been odd, and Merlin was never a guy who hung out with knights anyway — just look it up in The Legends of King Arthur; the sorcerer was socially awkward, at least. Instead, the 11th KRT watch depicts a mythical place in Northern Ireland known as the Giant’s Causeway.
Roger Dubuis Knights Of The Round Table, The Omniscient Merlin: a miniaturized magnificent landscape
The Giant’s Causeway, a World Heritage Site near Bushmills, Northern Ireland, is where fantasy and reality merge. And that’s what the KRT collection has been doing from the beginning, creating a watch experience that mixes the functional with the fantastic, emphasizing the latter.
According to some Arthurian legends, the Giant’s Causeway is where Merlin once stood. What he saw were towering columns of interlocking volcanic basalt. He probably saw the hexagonal beauty of the place through a thick mist because the fog was heavy and omnipresent, especially in Arthurian stories. Legend has it that Merlin lifted the uniquely shaped stones through magic and transported them to the Salisbury Plain in England, creating Stonehenge. How did the miniaturized stones get into the Roger Dubuis watch? Not by the magic touch of a descendant of Merlin but by the artisanal hands of mere mortals.
A dial with 56 towering blocks
The Giant’s Causeway inside the latest KRT starts with a pink gold base plate. After being precisely machined to produce a table of holes and hexagonal sections, it receives a layer of black PVD. Several sections of the underlying pink gold are then revealed through lasering and enhanced with a matte finish or a sunray pattern for added depth. After that, it’s time to mount the 56 tiny yet towering blocks, which range from 0.2mm to 3.7mm tall. To create magic, the artisanal wizards put 28 blocks of authentic basalt, nine blocks of solid pink gold, 10 blocks of black Murano-style glass, and nine blocks of transparent glass on the base plate’s matte sections of gold. Angling of the blocks ever so slightly creates a vanishing point at the dial’s center. The result is subtly stunning and slightly hypnotizing. Indeed, the watch has an aura of mythical magic.
Knights, please gather around
The 12 micro-engraved, 6mm-tall knights surrounding the Giant’s Causeway also look sharp in pink gold. If you look closely, you can see they’re standing on a black PVD-treated gold trail engraved with a hexagonal pattern that leads them to the center of the dial. And while you’re looking closely, take a good look at the knights and take in the many intricate details. To manually engrave each knight and detail the slimmest weapons or the subtle nuances of a helmet takes one to three days, requiring enormous amounts of patience and finesse. Did you also see that the knights received subtle touches of black patina to help soften the brightness and reveal the creases, contrasts, and tiniest details of the engraving?
Inside the magic realm
The Knights Of The Round Table, The Omniscient Merlin has a 45mm pink gold case with Roger Dubuis’s signature triple-lug design, a notched bezel, and a large crown with open-worked crown protectors. Inside it beats the in-house automatic Monobalancier RD821 caliber. Consisting of 172 components, the RD821 is a compact movement and, therefore, ideally suited to lie hidden beneath the feet of the knights. The caliber might not be the show’s star here, but it still features 14 types of manual finishing and bears the Poinçon de Genève. The 360° oscillating weight seen through the transparent case back shares a likeness with the stained glass windows of medieval castles.
Wearing the Knights of the Round Table, The Omniscient Merlin
Is the Knights Of The Round Table, The Omniscient Merlin a piece you wear or put in a display case and admire while listening to Celtic tunes? Being a watch with a price on request, it’s not a daily beater, that’s for sure. However, out of the 11 KRT watches made, this might be one of the most wearable. Sure, the 45mm case is big, but it’s comfortable, and you would probably only choose this watch for special occasions anyway — I can’t think of any at the moment apart from a very exclusive edition of Comic-Con. The watch comes on a black calfskin strap with a pink gold folding clasp and a modern quick-release system that lets you swap the strap easily to completely change the watch’s look — real-life watchmaking magic in full effect!
This is not a wear-and-forget type of watch. It constantly draws in your gaze. That was, of course, the intention of its makers. The folks at Roger Dubuis didn’t create a stealthy field watch. No, this is an opulent expression of craftsmanship and artistry. You put on this watch and take your time to fully enjoy and admire it down to the smallest details while it’s on your wrist. I did feel a bit like a wizard with the watch on mine. It’s too bad I didn’t have more time with it. But during the time we shared, I enjoyed the watch very much, mostly because the whole concept is unique.
An unlikely hero product
To be frank, when the first KRT came out in 2013, I didn’t think it could become a staple of the Roger Dubuis brand. But in all its originality, it has. That’s great because it shows that an original and wildly creative approach to horology still means something in a world where everything seems to be about integrated-bracelet watches. The watch with the small knights has captured plenty of hearts.
The first KRT showed a motto on the case back: “Around this table, the bravest knights will gather as equals. They will set forth in search of adventure, righting wrongs, protecting the weak and humbling the proud.” The 11th KRT creation practices at least some of what it preaches. The watch sets forth in search of adventurous wrists. And the 28 pieces of the Roger Dubuis Knights Of The Round Table, The Omniscient Merlin that will leave the manufacture in magical Meyrin will have the power to humble the proud owners of cliché trophy watches they paid way too much for on the gray market.
What do you think? Does this Merlin-themed Roger Dubuis creation put a spell on you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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