An Interview with Sadry Keiser, CMO of Roger Dubuis
By Sarah Jayne Potter | 5 minute read
The story of Roger Dubuis is marked by incredible success. The company was founded in 1995 and so is a relative newcomer to the Swiss watch industry but has certainly become a firm favourite. Striking a fine balance between meticulous watchmaking expertise and avant-garde design, its watches immediately made their mark and turned the company into a renowned specialist in architectural skeletonized movements. We spoke to their CMO, Sadry Keiser all about his take on the inspiration for the brand, and more.
Thank you for agreeing to be a part of this interview. Can you please introduce yourself, and give us an insight into your role at Roger Dubuis?
My pleasure! On top of my position as CMO of the company, people describe me as having a daring, entrepreneurial personality, driven by a fierce determination to achieve excellence. Along with a well-developed penchant for surprise one might say; a perfect match for a brand in which balancing opposites and contrasts are part of its very DNA. Today, I see my role as CMO as that of a translator between technicians and designers, technicians and marketing, or quite simply from a Brand and its Tribe. Part of a greater drive to make that same world a lot more fun. In sync with Roger Dubuis, I firmly believe that it all comes down to the mindset.
How would you introduce Roger Dubuis as a brand, and describe the collections to a new watch collector?
I would start with a promise: “Roger Dubuis is the most exciting way to experience hyper horology”! Since 1995, the Maison has successfully found its spot within the most sophisticated Swiss Watchmakers, evolving traditional watchmaking, and challenging the rules of the game with our expressive and contemporary approach. Excalibur is our main collection and our favorite platform of expression, with Roger Dubuis we used to say “expect the unexpected”. When you think that you already have seen everything, wait until you see a Roger Dubuis creation, our creativity and our savoir-faire has no limits.
In your opinion, what sets Roger Dubuis apart from other timepiece brands?
Everything. We differ in every respect from the way “regular” Haute Horlogerie does things. We like to reinvent the game; we live larger than life. We offer Haute Horlogerie, but in an expressive and contemporary way, using new cutting-edge materials, not by following the trends but creating our own, reinterpreting major complications such as the minute repeater, the single or double flying tourbillon … We are the “wild child” of the Richemont group and we totally own this role. Let me illustrate this statement: we shocked the industry more than 10 years ago with our expressive and contemporary skeletonized design approach.
At that time, our iconic double and single flying tourbillon set the trend. Expressivity means our skeletonized approach as mentioned earlier; and contemporary means working on very taut lines, while remaining loyal to the grand horological complications that are part of the watchmaking world. There are only a few Maisons (perhaps even no one else) who are able to merge tradition, expressivity and contemporary as we do. That philosophy drives our way to live, to think and to design the future of Hyper Horology. In a nutshell, Roger Dubuis stands for expressive & contemporary hyper horology interpreted with unleashed creativity reserved to an exclusive tribe celebrating a voracious hedonism way of life. That’s who we are.
Can you define luxury and what it means to Roger Dubuis?
Ultimate luxury is no longer about outstanding products only, but first and foremost about unique, unforgettable, meaningful experiences in an unlimited quest for pleasure and purpose. Serving a tribe built outside the traditional frameworks, modeled by creative people, who have undertaken and managed to rise by reinventing the world on their scale, shaking the established order. Freedom is more than ever a way to express singularity, yet by being part of a tribe of other daring people.
We have seen you take inspiration from cutting-edge industries such as the motorsports industry. Do you keep your finger on the pulse of any other industries?
Curiosity is part of our soul. Metallurgical, aerospace or even medical industries are industries that force us to address our challenges with different perspectives and bring fresh ideas to the table. That‘s how Roger Dubuis is able to play with those industries and give birth to specific alloy such as Coblat Chrome or new composite materials such as Cermatic composite fibers. So we definitely don’t limit ourselves to the motorsports industry only.
How do you continue to nurture the emotional relationship between the client and the brand?
There is no single answer to your question. When we talk about relationships, we talk about emotion. Our clients would say that we are an “emotion provider”. And we use any kind of opportunities to develop and create a particular relationship which makes Roger Dubuis so special. Unique and personal experiences create unique memories and maybe this is a fraction of the answer.
In your opinion, what has been the most defining moment of Roger Dubuis in its relatively young history?
I would say, between 2005 and 2008, when Roger Dubuis shook the world of haute horlogerie with its artistic skeleton design signature. That was the shifting moment and balance point, between the quest of technicity to the quest of expressivity and esthetic. Since that period, we say that technic has to serve the esthetic in our way to imagine and design the future of Hyper Horology.
Which piece or pieces, would you recommend to our audience in order to start building their Roger Dubuis collection?
Without any doubt, an Excalibur Original Double flying tourbillon. One of the most iconic creations of our Maison. A pure example of a traditional complication reinterpreted in a contemporary and modern way without compromising on the esthetic.
Which Roger Dubuis timepiece inspires you the most and why?
Our Exclibur TwoFold is probably a door opener to the future. Mixing high-tech material with one of the most iconic calibers of our Maison. The timepiece is exactly all Roger Dubuis is about; the most exciting way to experience hyper horology.
What is coming up for Roger Dubuis?
You have to expect “Haute Horlogerie” reinterpreted. You have to expect, expressivity through architectural structure, you have to expect a contemporary approach setting up new rules of the game. You have to expect a new journey proving strong emotions… This is our philosophy since day one: No rules, our game. Stay tuned because a lot of unexpected surprises will come.
