

The latest boutique-only limited edition watch from Swiss Roger Dubuis is the Geneva-based luxury brand’s third product collaboration with the Los Angeles-based tattoo artist Dr. Woo. The watch is known as the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Monotourbillon Dr. Woo Episode III. The product is certainly not for everyone, but I was personally charmed by the two-tone titanium and gold case with matching bracelet, and the intellectual (yet hip) artwork that decorates this base Excalibur Monotourbillon timepiece. Are you ready to travel to the “tourbillon galaxy?”
The decor on this Roger Dubuis watch makes for an interesting example of what most tattoo art actually is (granted, the art is applied to a wrist watch versus a person’s skin). This being a watch, Dr. Woo wanted to play with notions of time, the origins of how we measure time, commentary on the structure of the mechanical movement, and various small esoteric symbols that people seem to enjoy, packed into a smaller composition. The artwork is both evocative of emotional themes and also focuses on pleasant aesthetics in the form of the shapes and arrangements of the details. The outcome is meant to be a pleasant-looking composition that enhances the base surface while also being suggestive of the personality and values of the thing it decorates (here, the watch as well as the wearer). There is little risk of tattoo art being accused of being overly abstract or a non-sequiter because of the strong tendency for such art to be highly interpretative (as opposed to specific) in its meaning. So the way to properly evaluate tattoo art is in how well it decorates the object or person to which it is applied, and how compelling the visuals are. Most people would rather get lost in the details as opposed to trying to explain them all. The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Monotourbillon Dr. Woo Episode III is a feast of small details – all of which have general meaning to time, how it fits into society, the act of wearing an exclusive timepiece, and the particular mechanical features of this Roger Dubuis tourbillon timepiece.
While the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Monotourbillon Dr. Woo Episode III is not what I would call a futuristic design, it is a futurism-focused wristwatch. Rather than emphasizing nostalgia from the past, this watch promotes optimistic messages about the future. The core message of the watch is that if we (humans) all get along really well, we can cooperate to take on the stars. This can be seen in statements such as “We Come In Peace” written on the dial through one of the rocket trails. There is also the statement “Let’s work together to uncover the mysteries of the cosmos and unlock the secrets of the universe. To whoever finds this message, know that we are seekers of knowledge and explorers of the unknown.” This is a particularly human-centric and mystical approach to appreciating something as scientific as the tracking of time and studying the cosmos. Dr. Woo knows that while all these topics have relatively dry, mathematical empirical foundations, lay people really get excited about the potential of it all and the theoretical unknowns that are tantalized by the study. This is essentially pop art on top of science and engineering – a concept that has been relatively successful in the luxury watch space since high-end timepieces are pretty much all a calculated mixture of emotional dreaming and technical reality.
The most fun details of the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Monotourbillon Dr. Woo Episode III watch are some of the smaller graphical details and shapes that Dr. Woo decided to apply to this base Excalibur Monotourbillon. Many Roger Dubuis movements use a star-style bridge, which can be seen through the skeletonized dial. Here, much less of the Roger Dubuis Geneva Seal-certified manually-wound movement can be observed through the front and rear of the watch, given the application of the most gold-tone metallized graphics printed on the various sapphire crystals which are above and under the mechanical movement. Dr. Woo designed a star-shaped rocket path that mimics the signature Roger Dubuis bridge style. On this star shape, around 10 o’clock on the face is a tiny black-colored character that I at first thought was detritus. Instead, it is a small spider that is apparently a repeating theme in many of Dr. Woos’ works.
Dr. Woo makes an attempt to get playful and intellectual with how he designed the tourbillon cage. It is meant to look like a spinning space galaxy, modeled after an actual galaxy called the “whirlwind galaxy” (don’t most galaxies look like whirlwinds?). Since “tourbillon” is French for “whirlwind,” it makes sense to turn the spinning tourbillon into the shape of a galaxy. It is believed that at the center of many galaxies are black holes. So Dr. Woo builds on this theme via both the graphics on the front and mainly rear of the case. The rear of the case has a twirling “space time” motif in the form of a graphical grid layout that is often used by astronomers and scientists who try to build visual representations of how concepts like space time or gravity work in physical planes.
Around the 18k pink gold bezel of this Excalibur Monotourbillon Dr. Woo Episode III watch, and on some of the bracelet links, are a series of pictographic characters. Meant to look something like alien hieroglyphics – these interesting shapes add mystery and character to the overall composition. They are probably just a superficial cosmetic treatment, but nothing adds mystery to a space-theme concept like a supposed language that the viewer does not understand. Again, while Dr. Woo is clearly inspired by the importance and truth-discovery inherent in the astronomical and horological sciences, this limited edition Roger Dubuis watch is a fun, artistic representation of his awe and amazement about the universe, more so than a representation of any facts or empirical diagrams.
I love the watch for its fun and decor, but have a sober understanding of its purpose and how Dr. Woo took a base Roger Dubuis Excalibur Tourbillon (“Monotourbillon” because it has one tourbillon compared to some other Roger Dubuis products that have two) to turn into something with his signature look, for mainly his fans. Already liking two-tone watches, and the wearing experience of the 42mm wide Excalibur case and bracelet, my bias toward this Roger Dubuis watch is mainly positive. I also like richly decorated watches and playful executions of otherwise serious mechanisms. Downsides to the watch include the fact that much of the actual movement is obscured due to the graphics, and that not everyone will find the result aesthetically pleasing. It is a bit jumbled and frenetic for some tastes, but Roger Dubuis is only going to make 28 pieces of this third collaboration product with Dr. Woo.
In addition to being 42mm wide, the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Monotourbillon Dr. Woo Episode III is 12.6mm thick and is water resistant to 100 meters. Inside the watch is the in-house made and Geneva Seal-certified Roger Dubuis caliber RD515 manually wound time-only flying tourbillon movement. It operates at 3Hz with a power reserve of 72 hours. The movement features a lot of hand finishing and decoration, though you can’t see much of that in this particular watch because of the extra sapphire crystal dial, which has much of the graphics printed on it. The large polished steel whirlwind galaxy-style tourbillon case is a major centerpiece of the dial, in addition to the hour and minute hands, which actually aren’t that difficult to read (relatively speaking, that is).
At best, this watch is a fresh and playful take on the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Monotourbillon imagined by a popular and noteworthy artist and tattoo professional. Clearly, the relationship between Roger Dubuis and Dr. Woo has been fruitful enough to merit three design collaborations already. At its worst, this watch promotes a pleasant but naive obfuscation of human intent and intrepidness. Humans most certainly “do not come in peace,” anywhere we go, even though we clearly like to tell ourselves that. We come to conquer, but will happily avoid a fight if we get what we want without violence. Humans are also nowhere near being at a point where we can cooperate to take on the cosmos together. Rather, we are a species that is interested in exploring new places to inhabit and conquer, and will mercilessly compete with one another to get there. Black holes are also ultimate destinations of destruction. If our species’ explorers set out to find them, we might learn much in the process, but will also inevitably traverse to our doom. Dr. Woos’ messages are certainly in line with contemporary “feel good mantras,” but perhaps he is aware that much of this saccharine promises about the trajectory of human exploration are ultimately futile. Good art, even when you don’t agree with it, always makes strong observations about the state of human understanding and culture. So like a good tattoo, the Roger Dubuis Excalibur Monotourbillon Dr. Woo Episode III is eye-catching, interesting, and plays with salient themes. But also like a good tattoo, much of the meaning is only superficially skin deep, and the ultimate value of the composition remains the thing underneath the graphical work.
The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Monotourbillon Dr. Woo Episode III watch will be produced as a limited edition of 28 pieces, only available via Roger Dubuis brand boutiques worldwide. Price for this reference RDDBEX1125 Roger Dubuis watch is $170,500 USD. Learn more at the Roger Dubuis website.