Hands-On: The Daniel Roth Tourbillon In Platinum

If the Daniel Roth Tourbillon Souscription Yellow Gold from 2023 or its follow-up, the Tourbillon Rose Gold, didn’t get you excited, well, how about the brand’s third iteration, now in an almost entirely monochromatic execution in platinum? It’s certainly done the job for me, even if the changes seem quite minimal from the past two. But color makes all the difference, in my opinion, of making this perhaps the most youthful yet low-key take on the design yet.

Let’s get this out of the way—most elements are the same as the past models, themselves an homage to Roth’s original C187 tourbillon, a darling at auctions for its early impact on the original brand. The distinctive double-ellipse case, an immediate identifier of a Daniel Roth with its prominent gadroon set through the midcase and its soldered lugs, is now done in ice-cold platinum, a stark contrast to the warmth of rose or yellow gold. Its 38.6mm x 35.5mm dimensions render this watch supremely wearable, especially with its short lug design and slim height of 9.2mm. 

While the original Souscription model in yellow gold featured a solid caseback, this new platinum model follows its rose gold predecessor, with a sapphire crystal caseback to showcase the impressive finishing of the manually-winding DR001 caliber and its 80 hours of power reserve. No, the architecture isn’t dramatic or revolutionary, but it’s got all the elements that make this a very attractive movement in person—light Côtes de Geneve striping on the bridges, gold chatons for the gear train, a distinctive horizontal click bar (a joy to wind in person), and a beautifully black-polished bridge standing in the middle of it all.

At CHF 185,000, this level of finishing is expected, though it may feel a bit understated compared to many independents who justify similar prices with what often feels like an overwhelming number of interior angles and black-polished everything. If you’re a collector looking for unique visual flair on the caseback, this might not be the caliber for you. But subtlety is also a virtue, and the DR001 feels incredibly well done once you have it in your hand. It is also an excellent example of how to properly build upon a brand with history in its revived form. 

While Roth’s original C187 models used Lemania 387 ebauches (albeit largely developed by Roth himself when he was at Breguet), these modern tourbillon models tap the minds of La Fabrique du Temps’ Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini to conceive this modern manufacture calibre from the ground up, shaped bridges and all. From a caliber perspective, these are much improved, while, dare I say, the design is also more elegant thanks to a single-faced slimmer case (versus the original’s double face) and reworked lugs. 

The main star of the show here is, for sure, the dial, and its cool tones of grey get me very excited. Matching the platinum case is a white gold upper dial base, finished by hand with pinstripe guilloché, then finished in anthracite. The sterling silver portions of the upper dial (chapter ring, the seconds scale, and the Daniel Roth ‘moustache’) are all hand-turned filet sauté guillochage in their outlines and edges, adding a bit of texture that contrasts wonderfully with the darker vertical stripes. The dial type and hands get that dark grey treatment too, notably the triple-spoked seconds hand sandwiched by the large polished tourbillon bridge. Perhaps this is why I think this platinum execution is my favorite is because the warm hue of the tourbillon’s balance wheel and gear underneath manages to stand out from the grey tones in a really captivating way. Perhaps it clashed a bit on the rose gold model, but it worked in the opposite way to match the rest of the dial on the original Souscription. Here, it feels dramatic.

There’s also quite a significant hidden change—all components of the dial are now produced in-house at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, whereas past dials were produced by Kari Voutilainen’s dial workshop Comblemine. It’s thanks to La Fabrique du Temps now having a full guillochage workshop within its walls, with antique machines ranging from fifty years to two centuries old, which I’m sure bodes well for many future projects across the brands it works on. As Navas and Barbasini still supervise everything when it comes to the quality of the work that goes out, controlling more processes ‘in-house’ is never a bad thing, especially as the Daniel Roth revival, to me, represents a way to showcase La Fabrique du Temps’ abilities with an in-house brand. Shameless plug—my colleague Malaika just wrote an incredible story on La Fabrique du Temps in the latest issue of our print magazine, and it’s a great look into how the workshop is evolving as it doubles down on its artisanal chops. In the meantime, below is Logan Baker’s visit from a few years back.

On the wrist, it should come as no surprise that I quite enjoyed my time with this new platinum execution. It is compact on the wrist, reassuringly dense, and has just enough of a twist in its color palette for me to really imagine pulling this off as the most epic daily wearer possible. But at the same time, if you’re about to plunk down almost a quarter of a million dollars for a watch, you’d be considering what you’re not buying instead with that money. 

Cross-shopping tourbillons is certainly a noble goal in life, and two other dressy manually-wound, time-only tourbillons that come to mind are the A. Lange & Söhne 1815 Tourbillon (this year’s flavor: a black grand feu enamel dial) and the Breguet’s recent Classique Tourbillon Sidéral 7255. Comparing these three means comparing three brands with plenty of horological heritage and watchmaking skill, but with three distinctive results. From a technical perspective, Lange’s 1815 Tourbillon certainly feels the most impressive, thanks to its hacking and zero-reset functionality, a feat still not achieved by many other watchmakers. In typical Lange fashion, this means thicker proportions for a three-hander. Breguet’s novelty this year leans into the novelty aspect, with a flying tourbillon executed in a floating mystery design, but it lacks the timelessness of the other two here. 

So when you then look at the Daniel Roth, a standard non-flying 60-second tourbillon might sound downright pedestrian. But what the Roth offers, ironically given how new the revived brand is, is a lot more classic haute horlogerie finishing that feels timeless yet engaging in a supremely wearable, compact package. Not always the easiest compliment to give for a watch coming from a huge conglomerate. Production of course is also quite low, with 10 of the platinum models being produced this year, then ramping up to around 50 for the upcoming full year. The folks behind Daniel Roth are certainly playing it slow and steady, but the product to me bears optimism for the future of what the modern take on the brand will hold.

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