Dubey & Shaldenbrand's Flight of Fancy

Why care about about D&B’s “flying case”? You will--when you discover it is a truly revolutionary case design and contains one of the rarest movements in the watch market these days.

Quite passé and trite to declare, but once in a while, a real gem in the cluttered and confusing world of wristwatches comes along and inspires a genuine flight of fancy.

From Dubey & Schaldenbrand—-a brand that for most may not quite be up in there in the canons of epic and mainstream watchmakers, but nonetheless equally powerful in churning out some of the most exclusive and valued pieces in the market today— be prepared to be fascinated by the Spiral-Verso VIP chronograph, a watch boasting a flying case that allows the watch to change faces in three-dimensional movement.

Yes, that means the watch pops up and can not only be reversed, but propped up on a 6 o’clock position and displayed like a desk clock. An ingenious design development that takes Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso concept miles further. An irresistible plaything for the most moneyed connoisseur with fantasies of a literal toy-like, tactile wristwatch, or with the irresistible narcissism of adoring his jewelry on the dresser-top.

As can be imagined, D&S claims many years of research in perfecting this model. The watch is freed up by pressing two buttons at the 12 o’clock location. The high-precision chronograph possesses chronometer- quality escapement, is shock-absorbent, and waterproof for up to 30 meters. Time is reported in 24 hours, minutes and hours, and seconds--plus day, date, and month. There is even a dreamy moonphase, although it is slightly typical with a golden moon and stars against a blue sky. Interestingly, the crown is on the left side; perhaps a design issue with the peculiarity of the flying case more than a deliberate provision for lefties. The dial may be a bit overwhelming with such complications, but it is pure eye candy with a cool blue and stainless steel combination of hues.

The crowning glory is the patented Index Mobile rattrapante system fitted in the middle of the dial. Created in 1946 by George Dubey and Rene Schaldenbrand—the characters behind their eponymously named watch company—-the Index Mobile could be considered the seminal milestone from which the D&S empire sprung forth. The Index Mobile is an ingeniously simple and economical design of the split-second chronograph, with the two seconds hands connected through a finely coiled spiral spring--distinctively colored blue and above-dial, not underneath. When activating the chronograph function, the top hand stops as the lower continues to run, to be tugged back swiftly in reunion when it is stopped and reset. Graceful and playful yet fully functional, in true overall character of the phenomenal Spiral-Verso VIP.

D&S makes each and every Spiral-Verso VIP even more special with unique hand-engraving on the movement surfaces, on full glorious display through the sapphire caseback. These romantic engravings are actually a trademark of all D&S watches, with each movement distinctively decorated with flourishes and arabesques, never to be repeated again as each is hand-made and a product of the particular artisan working on it.

THE LADY IS A CHAMP

For those getting to know D&S, what could elicit either surprise or relief is the fact that it is probably the only watch company headed by a woman. Cinette Roberts is an anomaly in a milieu almost exclusively dominated by men--without judgment, it has always just seemed to be so. At any rate, it
isn’t anymore.

Roberts is not exactly a hands-on watchmaker in the league of Franck Muller, but she is the passionate steward of the legacy similarly began by Dubey and Schaldenbrand. Roberts’ foray into the world of watchmaking unfolds almost like a fairytale, with twists of sometimes unbelievable fortune. She is apparently a descendant of the famous watchmaking families of Meylan and LeCoultre (interestingly, the purveyor of the reversible case comparable to the Spiral-Verso VIP) from La Vallee de Joux who moved to Les Ponts-de-Martel during the 1920s Great Depression. It is from Les Ponts that Roberts draws great, if sometimes excessive, pride and inspiration, as evidenced in the designs and references of D&B watches.

Roberts has been purportedly fascinated with watches since childhood. Most importantly, she had the ingenious foresight to snap up Swiss mechanical movements—as many as 6,000 pieces—practically being disposed of during the quartz revolution of the 1970s and early 1980s. As if destined to make use of these treasures some point later in her life, her passion for watches led to her befriending Dubey, a master watchmaker and teacher at Technicum in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

In the mid-90s, Schaldenbrand had already passed on and the ageing Dubey presented Roberts with the proposition of a lifetime—to take on the D&S vision. In 1995, Roberts did purchase the company, relocated the factory to her hometown of Les Ponts, and breathed new life into the D&S brand by recasing and reworking her one-of-a-kind, truly vintage acquisitions. Thus, today’s delicate and prized Dubey & Schaldenbrand creations.

It is precisely with the use of such original vintage movements that D&S watches are rightfully among those claiming limited edition pieces in the truest sense of the word. D&S ascribes this to having a woman at its helm, along with the other virtues—having a wider array of wristwatch choices for ladies, and such fine touches as engravings, bold colors, exotic skin straps, and limited edition variations as the result of a female’s unbeatable eye for detail. Possibly true, for long before the fashion of thrift shops, customization, and vintage--Roberts’ female instincts had appropriated the trend in the watchmaking industry spot-on.

THE DUBEY & SCHALDENBRAND COLLECTIONS

Take, for instance, the fascinating tale of the limited edition D&S Aerodyn Venus. Reportedly, Roberts was in possession of a hundred pieces of tonneaushaped manual Venus mechanical movements produced during the 1930s to 1940s. After redesign into a beautiful Art Noveau dial befitting its history, total production numbered 90, and was further split into 30 special 18-karat rose gold cases, with the rest in stainless steel. All having been purchased immediately by the exclusive D&S distributor in the United States, its market value must have undoubtedly shot up from the original tag price of $4,500 for the steel variant and $8,500 for the rose gold model. Not even tipping the extreme end of high-end watch prices to begin with, but with Roberts having purchased the movements for a song, the idea of the steal is mouth-watering. D&S truly is stuff to watch out for in the secondary market.

Now, for its 60th anniversary, D&S pulled all the stops with a treasure chest—literally, a stunning burl elm veneer, inlaid box—of six of its most popular collections. The Duo, Date, Aerochrono, Astro, Aquadyn, and Spiral are each represented in what is dubbed “Collection Sixty,” with each of the six timepieces limited to a worldwide release of 60 units. A further 10 sets in 18-karat rose gold will be let loose into the world, to fall into the hands of only the luckiest (and wealthiest) collectors.

Lest Roberts be thought of as a shrewd businesswoman, credit is truly due to her undeniable personal passion for the art of master watchmaking and continuous innovations in design and craftsmanship. If not for having been a connoisseur herself, the watchmaking industry may have been marked one company less by the name of Dubey & Schaldenbrand just barely more than a decade ago.