Description
Roger Dubuis has spent more than a decade returning to a single idea: twelve figures gathered around a dial. Since the first Knights of the Round Table in 2013, the theme has cycled through Arthurian knights, dragons and, most recently, the Enchanter Merlin. For 2026 the brand leaves Camelot behind and heads to 17th-century Japan with the Excalibur The Kabuto Legacy (RDDBEX1139).
In place of medieval warriors, twelve micro-sculpted Kabuto — samurai helmets, each modelled on a real early-Edo commander — encircle an abstract rendering of Edo Castle. It is Metiers d'Art in the fullest sense, built into the unmistakable 45mm Excalibur case, and it is aimed squarely at the collector rather than the catalogue: just 28 examples will be made.
Design
The Excalibur signatures are all present — the round case, the fluted bezel, the distinctive third central lug — but the drama is on the dial. At the centre sits an abstract Edo Castle assembled from 17 separate elements in pink gold, black PVD and deep-blue CVD, the blue chosen as a nod to the indigo dye of samurai garments and Japanese textiles. Around it, a pink-gold ring carries twelve hand-engraved 18k pink-gold Kabuto helmets: Tokugawa Ieyasu's fern crest, Honda Tadakatsu's deer antlers and Date Masamune's crescent moon are among the most recognisable. Layered polished, bright-polished, circular-brushed and shot-blasted finishes give the scene depth.
The show continues on the reverse. The crests (Kamon) of the twelve commanders are laser-engraved onto a blue-coated pink-gold ring that frames the sapphire display back and its finely finished rotor. A blue calfskin strap with stitched leather tiles evokes traditional samurai armour, and a second strap is included.
Specifications
- Reference: RDDBEX1139
- Case diameter: 45mm
- Case thickness: 16.87mm
- Case material: 18k pink gold, with sapphire crystal ring under the bezel
- Bezel: fluted
- Crystal: sapphire
- Caseback: open sapphire, framed by a blue-coated pink-gold ring laser-engraved with the 12 commanders' crests
- Water resistance: 30m
- Dial: abstract Edo Castle (17 elements in pink gold, black PVD, deep-blue CVD); pink-gold ring with 12 hand-engraved 18k pink-gold Kabuto helmets
- Movement: calibre RD821, in-house automatic with central rotor
- Certification: Poincon de Geneve (Geneva Seal)
- Components / jewels: 172 components; 33 jewels
- Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
- Power reserve: 48 hours
- Functions: hours and minutes
- Strap: blue calfskin with stitched samurai-armour tiles (additional strap included); 18k pink-gold triple folding buckle with quick release
- Limited edition: 28 pieces
- Price: on request (estimated CHF 300,000 range)
- Availability: Roger Dubuis boutiques
What's Exciting
Case-as-art watches can tip into fantasy pastiche, but the Kabuto Legacy is unusually disciplined. Roger Dubuis brought in Frederik Cryns — a professor of Japanese history and a consultant on the Emmy-winning Shogun series — to make sure the twelve helmets and their crests are historically right, not just decorative. Underneath the artistry, the Poincon de Geneve-certified RD821 keeps this honest as a piece of watchmaking, with 14 in-house finishing techniques applied across 172 components. At 28 pieces, priced on request, it is a grail object first and a wristwatch second — but it is the rare Metiers d'Art release where the history is as considered as the craft.
History
The Knights of the Round Table line launched in 2013 and quickly became one of Roger Dubuis' defining Metiers d'Art statements, its twelve-figure symmetry echoing the brand's Astral Skeleton architecture and star motif. Successive editions — including the 2024/2025 Merlin chapters — kept the round-table idea alive while rotating the storytelling. The Kabuto Legacy is the first to transplant that concept out of European legend entirely, swapping Arthurian myth for the samurai commanders of the early Edo period and Edo Castle itself, and in doing so it gives one of the brand's longest-running concepts a genuinely fresh cultural frame.
