Roger Dubuis, a renowned watch brand in the early 2000s, was a fusion of historical ideas and modernity. The company produced over 25,000 watches annually, generating over SFr100m of revenue. Dubuis began his career at Longines in the late 1950s and later worked for Patek Philippe in Geneva. He left the watchmaker's workshop in 1980 to repair watches and clocks for collectors, auction houses, and watch brands. In the late 1980s, he started working on his first complication, a perpetual calendar module with retrograde displays.
In the early 1990s, Dubuis met Carlos Dias, who later became the impresario of the Roger Dubuis brand. Together, they set up Société Genevoise des Montres (SOGEM) in 1995. Jean-Marc Wiederrecht, founder of complications specialist Agenhor, explains that Dubuis and Wiederrecht worked on developing a retrograde perpetual calendar module at the behest of New York jeweller Harry Winston. The Bi-Retro Perpetual Calendar wristwatch was the first double retrograde perpetual calendar, and Dubuis would later make it the signature complication of his brand.
The first Roger Dubuis watches were acclaimed by collectors for channeling traditional Geneva watchmaking while having more stylistic flair. They came in two styles: Sympathie and Hommage. The Sympathie shape was later adopted as the brand's signature, while the Hommage watch case was an elegant modern version of the water-resistant Patek Philippe ref. 1463 chronograph. All Roger Dubuis watches were certified as chronometers by the Besançon Observatory and hallmarked with the Poincon de Geneve or Geneva Seal.
