Roger Dubuis Easy Diver Chronoexcel Luxury Watch Review

http://www.thewatchbox.com/watches/ro... Why does the old saw posit, "go big" or "go home?" In the Roger Dubuis Easy Diver Chronoexcel, the audacious Geneva watchmaker "goes big" and hits a "home-run." Big, fine, and built in-house to standards that would impress the patrician elders of Geneva horology, this Roger Dubuis Easy Diver Chronoexcel is a bold hybrid of ancient finishing techniques and 21st-century style. Let's be clear: this 46mm stainless steel diving machine isn't for everyone, but, in the worlds of Dubuis' own leadership, this watch is "Just For Friends" who follow the watchmaker's avant-garde thinking. A color palette of blue, silver, and black is unabashedly sporting in appearance. The vast unidirectional diving bezel, visible blue bezel gasket, integrated rubber strap, carbon fiber lug inserts declare Roger Dubuis' intent to create a thinking man's Hublot. While traditionalists might protest that "less is more," Dubuis responds by proving that MORE is more. No expense has been spared to ensure that the bewildering array of inset rubber elements, colored appliqués, printed calibrations, dial guilloche work, and diamond-polished applied white gold numerals read with the same clarity and quality that one would expect to find on a Geneva Seal Vacheron Constantin, L.U. Chopard, or neighboring independent manufacture F.P. Journe. A true diver's watch, this Roger Dubuis Easy Diver Chronoexcel is a 300-meter water resistant "Sports Activity Watch" (Dubuis' initial terminology for this style) with all of the elements necessary to pass muster as an ISO 6425-defined dive watch. While not intended for the bashful or the discreet luxury watch enthusiast, the durability and versatility of this Easy Diver Chronoexcel permit it to be worn in all environments from the shower to the office. Thanks to a supremely comfortable blue vulcanized rubber strap make the Roger Dubuis Easy Diver Chronoexcel is an agreeable companion. Despite its size, thoughtful sculpting of the lugs, case back, and rubber strap ensure that wrists as small as 6" in circumference can accompany this timepiece in total comfort. Roger Dubuis' style may polarize, but the ergonomics of the Easy Diver Chronoexcel are beyond reproach. As a true manufacture of in-house movements, Roger Dubuis fits its leviathan dive chronograph with an automatic RD78 caliber stamped with the vaunted Poincon de Geneve mark of excellence. The micro-rotor movement measures only 5.8mm thick despite over 300 pieces, 36, jewels, automatic winding, and a traditional column wheel chronograph mechanism. All facets of the bridges, levers, wheels, and baseplate reflect the investment of vast human attention, energy, and skill. Mirror-grade "black" polish, circular metallic graining of the wheels, cotes de Geneve ridges, and a single cobalt kiln-oxidized screw (atop the capped column wheel) prove that Roger Dubuis has produced more than a sports watch with a pedigree; the Easy Diver Chronoexcel is a modern watch with traditional soul. With the Roger Dubuis Easy Diver Chronoexcel, Swiss high horology has taken the next logical step in the journey started by the 1993 Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore. A truly top-shelf craft master piece that happens to be a sports watch, the Easy Diver Chronoexcel is the real-world embodiment of the qualities that Hublot attempts to project. Roger Dubuis hits the ball out of the park and proves that it is, in fact, possible to "go big" and "go home" at the same time. See this outstanding Roger Dubuis Easy Diver Chronoexcel in high-resolution images on www.thewatchbox.com. Video and content by Tim Mosso.