With Excalibur Lady of the Lake: Hawthorn Edition, Swiss luxury watch brand Roger Dubuis offers a feminine interpretation of the Arthurian legend, set in a 36mm rose gold case shaped like a jewel.
With a new feminine creation, Roger Dubuis continues to explore the character of Viviane, the Lady of the Lake from the Arthurian legend, a delicate yet protective figure.
The hawthorn is chosen to represent Viviane: the dial features a three-dimensional design, set with 147 diamonds at its centre and adorned with flowers carved from white mother-of-pearl and hawthorn berries made of red sapphires. The design and stylistic complexity of the 36mm rose gold case echoes the femininity of this piece of jewellery.
For his feminine take on the Arthurian legend, Roger Dubuis portrays Viviane, the powerful and mysterious Lady of the Lake. The fairy comes into being in the Brocéliande Forest, where the visible and the invisible worlds meet. She is the one who places the sword Excalibur in the hands of Arthur and contributes to shaping the king’s destiny. After being taught to perform magic by Merlin, Viviane surpasses him, a testament to her independence and influence.
Two previous timepieces in Sovereign Grey and Sylvan Green, explored Viviane’s role as a knightess-strategist as well as her mysterious character. A new edition, Hawthorn, evokes the ambiguity of the fairy, a beauty capable of staking out a world, like the hawthorn.
The Hawthorn Edition’s Floral Aesthetic
Hawthorn flowers sculpted in white mother-of-pearl unfurl on the rose-gold, diamond-paved dial of the Lady of the Lake Hawthorn. Balls of polished gold depicting stamens hold a diamond pistil. Red sapphires become the haws, the hawthorn berries. This three-dimensional composition, a Roger Dubuis signature, evokes the natural environment where Viviane comes into being.
The hawthorn, despite its fragile appearance, emerges as a great force, capable of offering magnificent refuge. Its thorns mark a boundary between the human realm and that of magic. Viviane herself is presented as a guardian of the thresholds between the human world and that of the fairies, between the forest and the water, between love and power, between protection and imprisonment.
In spring, the petals of the hawthorn gradually open and give way to berries. Autumn sees them don a scarlet red, symbolic of the transformative power of nature and the Lady of the Lake. The small seconds hand is indicated by a mother-of-pearl flower petal placed on the display disc.
This technical choice requires mastering both balance and inertia as the flower is built asymmetrically and in three dimensions. Against this natural background, rose-gold faceted hour and minute hands mark the time.
The two-sided bezel accentuates the theatrical design of the dial. Its volume also highlights the galvanised rose-gold three-dimensional indexes filled with luminescent material. The flange is decorated with a snail pattern on the top and a matt finish on its tilted side.
A Case in Gold, Shaped Like a Jewel and Set with Diamonds
Excalibur Lady of the Lake is housed in a 36mm rose gold case shaped like a jewel. Its design and finishes combine complexity and femininity. On the case body, an inset ring set with diamonds extends toward the crown. The polished angles contrast with the matt look of the brushed satin surfaces and accentuate the precious aspect of rose gold.
The crown bears the polished Roger Dubuis logo, protected by a transparent lacquer, giving depth to the design. A signature of the Excalibur collection, the fluted bezel is set with diamonds of great purity. The case transitions quite naturally into the strap with two inclined lugs, each set with four diamonds. The maison offers an alligator leather strap in a deep red tone with a pearled effect, closing with a rose gold pin buckle.
A Mechanical Heart
On the back side, a transparent sapphire glass reveals the RD830 automatic mechani
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