EXCLUSIVE: Swiss Watchmaker Daniel Roth Poised for Relaunch
PARIS — Swiss watchmaking label Daniel Roth is slated to make its return in 2023, with La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton acting as an incubator, its parent group LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton revealed Thursday.
The Daniel Roth brand was founded in 1988 by the eponymous French watchmaker, an Audemars Piguet and Bréguet alum who was among the first to strike out under his own name.
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The period between its launch and 1994 is seen as the heyday of the brand, considered one of the defining watchmakers of the 20th century by collectors and industry insiders.
Among its most striking designs are a 1988 commission from Asprey of London for a 25-piece edition of double-faced tourbillon timepieces with special seconds display, a project that funded the fledgling brand; the C147 two-register chronograph; a “special rattrapante” hand-wound chronograph, and the C117 perpetual calendars instantaneous jump mechanism, a direct collaboration with prominent watchmaker Philippe Dufour.
One of its most visible signatures is the distinctive truncated elliptical “ellipsocurvex” case shape, alluded to in the new brand logo.
After the 1994 purchase of the brand by Singapore-based retailer The Hour Glass, Roth progressively took a step back, with the 1999 Papillon model, a jumping hour complication that marked the company’s 10th anniversary, being an official turning point.
In 2000, Roman jeweler Bulgari purchased the brand, as well as that of Gérald Genta, another household name in Swiss watchmaking. The reported $22.5 million acquisition was a bid to bolster the jeweler’s high watchmaking division. LVMH subsequently took control of Bulgari in 2011 in a merger deal.
Production of Daniel Roth timepieces petered off after 2015. Timepieces from its early period are highly sought after, commanding premiums at auction. To wit, a C117 perpetual calendar with leap year indication in yellow gold went for 604,800 Hong Kong dollars, or more than $77,000, at Phillips in 2021, outstripping an initial $15,400 high estimate.
Revived nearly a decade later under the auspices of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, Daniel Roth will be operated as a vertically integrated independent brand. The watch manufacturer’s founders and master watchmakers Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini will personally oversee the creation and execution of each Daniel Roth timepiece.
The brand indicated the founder will not hold any executive role at the new organization, but he will be consulted and kept informed of developments, particularly given his longstanding relationship with Navas and Barbasini.
Product design and development are underway and the first model from the revived brand is expected to be released in 2023, with the introduction of a 20-piece subscription series. According to a statement about the relaunch, the brand “will aim to capture the mechanical ingenuity and contemporary classicism” of Roth’s early designs, matching the “La Montre Objet d’Art” motto.
The Daniel Roth brand stated it intended to produce less than 100 pieces a year.
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