Mr Porter x Roger Dubuis launch combines luxe with experience

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 14, 2018

It doesn’t take a genius to see that luxury e-tailer Mr Porter’s strategy is very much focused on exclusives and interesting collaborations with major brands, the webstore’s announcements of new brand link-ups coming thick and fast these days.

The latest initiative for the YNAP-owned website is the upcoming launch of Swiss-based watch brand Roger Dubuis on November 19. The offer will include a curated selection of seven watches, along with an exclusive “one-of-a-kind” timepiece from the brand’s Excalibur family. 

Founded in 1995 and based in Geneva, Roger Dubuis is one of the youngest luxury-watch brands and it’s got a strong appeal for high-spending Millennial consumers as it focuses heavily on “innovative and complicated” watches. And in a market where competition is intense and a point of difference is what really counts, that’s clearly a big selling point.

The focus of this launch also clearly feeds into what Millennials want - luxury, experiences and exclusivity.

So what’s actually in the collection? Well, the star is the Excalibur Aventador S timepiece, built in partnership between Roger Dubuis and carmaker Lamborghini Squadra Corse. It houses a double sprung balance with a differential – both placed at 45-degree angle, and “engine strut bars” placed across the movement – linking to design features of the Lamborghini V12 engine.

This feeds into the growing trend of luxury and fashion brands forging partnerships with high-end car marques and designing products that echo elements of those cars. Only recently we’ve seen both Belstaff and Hugo Boss launching products branded for (and closely linked to the materials and design philosophies of) McLaren and Porsche.

Back with Mr Porter, anyone buying this single, “one-of-a-kind” piece will also get an experience layered on top of the purchase with Roger Dubuis and Mr Porter presenting the owner with a visit to Roger Dubuis Manufacture in Switzerland, followed by an exclusive Lamborghini driving experience throughout the Jura Mountains. 

And the car connection continues with other items on offer. There will also be three timepieces from the Roger Dubuis and Pirelli collection, including the Excalibur Spider Pirelli Automatic Skeleton in orange, red and blue accent colours. This partnership sees motorsport winning tyre rubber inserted into every watch strap.

Of course, all this comes at a price and the RRPs for the collection range from €62,300 to €277,700/£54,800 to £245,000/$63,500 to $275,000.