Dating from the early 2000s, the Hommage 37 Perpetual Calendar bears the aesthetic hallmarks of early Roger Dubuis, something that was diluted as the brand changed hands starting in the middle of the decade. It is marked by its visual cues that pay homage to classic Patek Philippe, a brand in whose employ the watchmaker spent many years.
Only 28 examples were made in this configuration, with a 37mm 18k white gold case and a matte black dial, as is characteristic of the brand in this era. Another 28 were made with a white gold case and a white dial.
The 37mm case measures 44mm across and stands 11.1mm tall. The dial side is marked by the polished concave bezel which, together with the polished screwed down caseback, sandwiches the brushed caseband. The lugs, in keeping with the finishing, are brushed on the side and polished on top. Integrated into the left of the caseband is the pusher to adjust the perpetual calendar. The crown on the right is well proportioned, easy to use and signed with the brand’s mark.
Under the subtly domed sapphire crystal lies the stepped, matte black dial. It features alternating white gold Breguet-style Arabic numerals and arrowhead indices. Circling that is a chapter of applied minutes plots.
The top half of the dial features twin apertures that display the day and the month with a leap year indicator located between two and three o’clock. The display employs a four-colour disk – red for the leap year, yellow for the first year after that, green for the second year and blue for the third. Also in this half of the dial are the brand’s mark and “horologer genevois”, a reference to the watch’s Geneva manufacture. The hour and minute hands are of the alpha variety and faceted while the seconds hand is curved at the end.
The bottom of the dial features the moonphase display, a two-dimensional affair with a rich blue midnight sky and gold stars and moon. “Bulletin d’observatoire” and “quantiemme perpetual” are printed around the moonphase. Beside it is the large radial date indicator with a leaf-style hand. In between the two registers is a Breguet numeral six.
On the inside is the Roger Dubuis calibre 5739, which is based on the Longines L990, an automatic winding movement with a 45-hour power reserve. Longines, incidentally is another brand Dubuis worked early on in his career as a watchmaker. Visible through the screwed down display caseback, the calibre is finished with Côtes de Genève and the winding rotor features a hollowed out gold insert of the watchmaker’s signature. The hallmarks of the precious metal the case is forged from are on the underside of the lugs.
