The watchmaker Daniel Roth founded DANIEL ROTH in 1988 with a tourbillon in a double-ellipse case, a shape that became the brand’s signature and returns in today’s Extra Plat.
How it began
The brand calls itself a pioneer of independent watchmaking, one that promoted high complications and traditional craftsmanship. Roth began with his favourite complication, the tourbillon, and chose to house it in a double-ellipse case of his own. In that first year, Asprey of London placed a 25-piece souscription order, which put the new name at the front of independent watchmaking. Those first Tourbillons were in yellow gold, with the case back showing both the date and the power reserve.
One complication at a time
From the tourbillon, Roth went on to revisit most of the key complications, starting with the chronograph. In the 1990s, when hand-wound chronographs were seldom seen in major Swiss catalogues, he introduced a dual-pusher manual-winding model. A mono-pusher followed in 52 pieces, 36 in yellow gold and 16 in platinum. A split-seconds chronograph from the early 1990s is believed to have been made in only 60 pieces.
Thin watches mattered to him as much. In 1990 he launched an automatic ultra-thin, built on a calibre he had come to know at Breguet, and always in the double-ellipse case. A manual version took almost 1mm off the thickness. As Roth put it: “Nothing suits a wrist better than an ultra-thin watch”.
The watches
In 1991 came the Retrograde, inspired by a pocket watch by George Daniels. Its hours run across a half-circle from 6 to 6, and the hour hand then returns to the start. For the perpetual calendar, Roth worked with Philippe Dufour to show the day and month in windows, or guichets. A fully skeletonised version showed them by hands instead.
The Papillon of 1999 marked the brand’s 10th anniversary. Roth named it after the French word for butterflies, in tribute to his father, a butterfly collector. It shows a jumping hour at 12 o’clock, running seconds at the centre and a retrograde minute scale. It was made in 250 pieces, and the brand describes it as the final creation of Roth himself.
The house today
The current Extra Plat keeps the exact length and width of the Tourbillon’s case but slims it to 7.7mm. Its manual-winding calibre DR002 is developed and assembled at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, under master watchmakers Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini. It shares the visual style of the DR001 tourbillon calibre but was developed from the ground up for this watch.
On the Souscription series, the solid gold dial carries Clou de Paris guilloché, made entirely in-house by one master guillocheur. Nearly two full days of work go into that pattern alone. To keep the craft alive, the brand sourced historical machines from collectors and museums around the world and restored them completely. The double-ellipse case Roth chose in 1988 still shapes the Extra Plat.
At a glance
- Founded: 1988
- Founder: Daniel Roth
- Based in: Meyrin, Switzerland (registered office)
- Known for: the double-ellipse case, the tourbillon, the Papillon, the Extra Plat
- Independent: not stated; the company is registered care of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton SA
Sources: DANIEL ROTH’s own website (History, Historical Models, Extra Plat Souscription, Extra Plat Platinum, Privacy Policy).