The return of Daniel Roth (the brand)

MEYRIN, Switzerland — A new watchmaking adventure is slowly taking shape at La Fabrique du Temps, LVMH’s three-story watch factory on the outskirts of Geneva: the resurrection of independent brand Daniel Roth.

Taking center stage for this movement, pioneered by Jean Arnault, Director of Marketing and Watch Development at LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, are Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini. The two watchmakers founded the workshop in 2007 and sold it to LVMH in 2011.

“The challenge is to respect the creations of Daniel Roth, but not stay still. We have to do something else to move forward; we also have to write our history,” Navas said in a joint interview on the site.

“With new abilities, we can now do a 100 percent new move,” added Mr. Barbasini. “This does not mean that we are better than him, but we have more technical means, so now we can do more and better.”

Its first Daniel Roth watch, due for delivery in early 2024, will be the Souscription Tourbillon, an update to the first watch Daniel Roth launched in 1989. It features a complex double-ellipse case (like a square with rounded corners and rounded edges). The case houses a hand guilloché clous-de-Paris, or nail pattern, mark with a tourbillon (an addition to the exhaust to increase accuracy) at six o’clock.

The 20 polished gold pieces, each with a pre-tax price of 140,000 francs, or $155,000, sold out in a matter of weeks, according to Navas.

But who is Daniel Roth? Now 77, he worked for Breguet in the 1970s, creating the brand’s first tourbillon wristwatch. In 1988, he decided to start his own brand, becoming a rare independent, manufacturing Swiss watches under his own name.

For his first watch, launched in 1989, he invented the double ellipse case. His first order was a 25-piece commission of the hand-decorated, manually wound, double-sided tourbillon Ref. 2187/C187 for London retailer William Asprey. Mr. Roth would go on to produce 10 different models under his own name, including chronographs, a perpetual calendar, a minute repeater, and an ultra-slim automatic that only measures time.

In 1994, the brand was sold to the Singaporean retailer hourglass, which in turn sold it to Bulgari. Mr. Roth left the brand in 2000 to explore other collaborations. And in 2011, when LVMH bought Bulgari, the Daniel Roth brand joined the luxury giant’s portfolio.

Recently, in the Fabrique du Temps workshop, Mr. Navas and Mr. Barbasini cleared out a watchmaker’s bench and, using pencil drawings and a white three-dimensional plastic model, showed a visitor how the watch design had developed. box. In the background, 20 watchmakers sat quietly hunched over movements and components. Beyond, a breathtaking view dominated the misty Jura mountains.

Here, a select few watchmakers work with Mr. Navas and Mr. Barbasini on the Daniel Roth collection, which LVMH plans to expand to a few hundred watches per year. It will be thinner than the Roth original (9.2 millimeters instead of 11) and the lugs, which secure the straps to the watch case, are curved instead of straight.

“Now it’s softer on the wrist, more ergonomic,” Navas said.

“The case of Daniel Roth is very difficult,” Barbasini said.

“You have to solder the lugs on the box where you have three different circles, and it’s very hard not to see the solder. It’s a nightmare!” she exclaimed, laughing and shaking her head.

A smiling Mr. Navas agreed: “It’s a huge difficulty, but we like this kind of challenge.”

In another design detail, the seconds indicator is divided into three arched sections, one above the other, and the seconds are read through three hands of different lengths; the hands are directly connected to the tourbillon itself, which makes one complete revolution in one minute.

The technology inside the Souscription Tourbillon is new. Mr. Roth used round ébauches (basic movements) which he meticulously adapted and decorated. But the new DR001 movement is made from scratch and follows the shape of the case.

“Today we have computers; We have CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machines. Therefore, we are able to achieve the best accuracy, precision and finish,” said Mr. Navas. To make the watch more accurate, he said, they use a smaller and faster balance wheel than Mr. Roth used.

“We try to be in the midst of precision and tradition,” Mr. Barbasini said. “Of course, it must be the most accurate, but it must also be easy on the eye.”

Another technical component is the click: the spring-loaded, polished steel crossbar that makes a noise when you wind the watch. It’s essential: without it, the mainspring would explosively release all its energy at once. “When you wind the watch, you have to listen to it,” Navas said, adding that they use a click similar to what is found on old pocket watches.

“When you have to wind the watch every couple of days, you have a connection between man and machine, and this clicking sound is part of the excitement and experience that we can bring to the customer,” he said.

The sound matters, but also what is not seen, said Mr. Barbasini: “We also decorate the invisible parts. Because? It’s also important because it’s not just about what you see. The quality must be 100 percent, so it is in the spirit to finish all parts. If you don’t, you’re cheating. And Michel and I don’t cheat.

In his new life, Daniel Roth presents himself as an independent brand. But can you be independent if you are part of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group?

“Our approach is the same as Daniel Roth’s,” Navas said. “We work in the same way as when we were independent. Yes, we have the opportunity to have the group behind us, but I think it’s good not to be too comfortable.

Taina Tukiainen, Professor of Innovation, Sustainability and Corporate Entrepreneurship at the University of Vaasa in Finland, is an international expert in what is also sometimes known as intrapreneurship, when entrepreneurial behavior is encouraged within a company or a conglomerate.

“LVMH’s corporate strategy is based on a global portfolio of creative, talented and different brands that strengthen the company’s capabilities,” he wrote in an email. “Although, according to the LVMH company structure and strategy, Daniel Roth is not a completely independent company, I believe that the brand is truly independent for the target customers.”

But what about Mr. Roth?

He continues to make watches under the Jean Daniel Nicolas brand (a mixture of his name, his wife’s and his son’s) in a small workshop in Vallée de Joux. In a recent phone call, he said he was “very happy, very proud and at peace” about the revival of the original LVMH brand. “It was a great sadness for me to see this brand that bore my name inactive and lifeless. Being noticed by this prestigious name is a great honor,” he added in a subsequent email.

Mr. Roth has been to the factory several times to see the progress, and Mr. Navas and Mr. Barbasini have visited his workshop. “My role is honorary only,” Mr. Roth said, “and Navas and Barbasini are great watchmakers. I am very flattered to participate with them, and I consider them as true friends.”

Mr. Roth also expressed relief. “I was very anxious that the Daniel Roth brand would fall into the wrong hands and drag my name through the mud like it did. Now I feel like it’s heaven after hell. It’s a resurrection.”