It seems that the tourbillon is somewhat a right of passage for watchmakers launching their own brand regardless of generations, whether be Journe in 1999 or a Theo Auffret or Rexhep Rexhepi in the past years. After having worked at Audemars Piguet and revived Breguet as we know it, Daniel Roth set out to launch his own brand in 1988 and introduced his Tourbillon ref. C187 the following year.
Upon launch of his brand, Roth immediately established his personal design language, the most obvious being the unusual ellipsocurvex shape, hands with pointed tips and dials with guilloché patterns, all elements you can find in the present yellow gold Tourbillion. However, the present early example number 24, is part of a very small selection of tourbillon wristwatches that were made with a full caseback as opposed to the two dial models that feature a power reserve indicator and date on the caseback.
Interestingly with the relaunch of the brand and the presentation of the new Souscription Tourbillon in 2023 it is this very combination that was selected as Daniel Roth’s 1st revival piece.
The Daniel Roth reference C187 is probably on of the watchmaker's better known creations. With classical lines and gentle curves, its design is as equally relevant in today's standards as it was more than 30 years ago when it was released. Taking centre stage is the large tourbillon escapement with an original triple arm seconds hand featuring three hands of different lengths that indicate the seconds on three different seconds registers each calibrated for 20 seconds. Cased in yellow gold it features a remarkably executed guillochage. The hour-minute disc features classic Roman numerals and is in satin-brushed silver, as well as the lateral frames that indicate the number of the watch, the brand name and the seconds. The movement that powers this remarkable timepiece is based off the Lemania 387 ébauche, which has been highly modified and finished at the highest of levels.