Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon

Here, at Monochrome-Watches, we are used to see extreme horology and very high-end pieces. All with their own specificities, some brands as Christophe Claret, Greubel Forsey or Richard Mille had already impressed us with watches priced over half an million Euros / Dollars. We tried them, we played with them, we explained them to you because such a price has to be justified. Recently, we found a new brand, based in Montreux, Switzerland, that came to the world with an extra-thin tourbillon, the Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon, priced over that symbolic ‘half-a-million’ step. Let’s see why!

The first watch presented is an extra-thin tourbillon that takes inspiration in observatory watches, known for their accuracy and precision. The Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon is entirely designed, developed and produced in Switzerland, by a small group of people led by Roshan Martin, a young Swiss designer. The idea behind the brand and the collections is to ‘conceive the finest precision luxury timepiece in the world while perpetuating the crafts, values and handmade savoir-faire of the great master watchmakers from the 18th century.’ 

The Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon comes with an in-house calibre that measure 37mm by only 2.8mm and that boasts 55 hours of power reserve. It also features a Breguet overcall, an in-house escapement (a specification rare enough to be noticed) and a free sprung balance wheel in red gold (meaning that it don’t have an external adjustment mechanism but that it can be adjusted thanks to masses located around the balance wheel). All of the 115 components are made and finished by hand for a better accuracy and precision. The finish seems to be based on very high standards, with re-entrant angles, polished bevelled angles, polished screw heads and slots. We also can noticed flat and very thin jewels.

The case measures 43.5mm and is available in platinum, 18K red gold (with several choices of diamonds incrustations) and in forged carbon (Limited to clients taking 1 Platinum and 1 Rose Gold in a box of 3 pieces). The face of the watch shows the large tourbillon at 9 and an off-centered hour-minute dial, made of black grand-feu enamel at 3. The main plate of the movement, that takes place between the eccentric dial and the tourbillon, is made in solid platinum and finished with straight Geneva stripes.

The Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon will be participating the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) at the end of October 2014 and should be officially introduced at the same moment. The price list is quite impressive, as you can see bellow:

• Légende Tourbillon Platinum Version without diamonds : CHF 550’000
• Légende Tourbillon Rose Gold Version without diamonds : CHF 510’000
• Légende Tourbillon Platinum Version Full Snow Brilliant set : CHF 650’000
• Légende Tourbillon Platinum Version Fullset Princesses : CHF 1’100’000 (2 pieces only worldwide)
• Légende Tourbillon Rose Gold Version Fullset Princesses : CHF 1’000’000 (2 pieces only worldwide)
• Légende Tourbillon CARBON : CHF 850’000

Now comes THE question: how is that price justified? We told you, we’ve seen some watches priced at over a million CHF in the flesh ‘quite often’ (not everyday of course). When you think about very exclusive watches, Greubel Forsey is one of the brands that comes straight to your mind. Most of their creations are priced at CHF 500’000 or more. But inside, you’ll find double or quadruple tourbillons, a very exclusive GMT complication, an accuracy that had proven to be one of the best in the world and details of finishing that only a very few watchmakers are able to achieve. Same goes for the Christophe Claret Soprano, a watch that comes with a flying tourbillon and a minute-repeater with four separated gongs (priced at around CHF 500’000).

Talking extra-thin tourbillon, we’ve seen recently the Arnold & Son UTTE with a tourbillon movement that measures only 2.97mm in height (very close the 2.8mm we’re talking about here) and that boasts 90 hours of power reserve. And the watch is priced around CHF 70’000. It might not have the same level of hand-finish of course, but the price is so different that we might questioned ourselves about the Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon. A view in the flesh should be necessary to understand what could really justify the price. For the moment, judging on the specs and photos, we are doubtful.