Recherché luxury Swiss watch brand Dubey & Schaldenbrand has just launched the Superbia NV Limited Edition automatic watch. The new watch is featured in two case versions: high-grade 316L steel and 18K 5N gold. The high-grade 316L steel interpretation comes in a limited series of 150 units, while the 18K 5N gold is offered in a limited edition of just 50 pieces.
The case features a graceful time-setting crown, sculptured in high-grade 316L steel or 18K 5N gold. Both versions are embossed with the DS monogram.
Today, as A list celebrities queue round the block to become Swiss watch brand ambassadors, it’s easy to forget that just 35 to 40 years ago the Swiss watch industry came within a hair trigger of total meltdown due to the seemingly omnipotent quartz watch movement.
One woman however simply could not believe or accept that centuries of Swiss fine art, hard work and ingenuity could be left behind and forgotten in the space of just a few short years. Her name is Cinette Robert, and today she is CEO of Dubey & Schaldenbrand. She believes passionately in Swiss craftsmanship and uses only 100 percent Swiss components and Swiss craftsmen.
Back in those bad old days when all around her thought that vintage mechanical movements were destined for the scrap heap of history, she was busy buying them up. Many thought she was mad. They probably don’t think so any more.
Carefully restored and skillfully decorated, these movements have gradually resurfaced powering highly exclusive watches sold under the Dubey & Schaldenbrand name.
One of these rare movements is an historic Lemania 8810 ultra-thin automatic movement. Based on the legendary Longines calibre L990, the movement is considered to be one of the thinnest automatics with second hand and date.
The movement is just 26 mm in diameter and only 2.95 mm in height. It works on 25 jewels and beats at a frequency of 28,800 vph. Its two mainspring barrels store enough energy to power the watch for as long as 48 hours.
As with all Dubey & Schaldenbrand watches, the movement is decorated and reassembled on the company premises in the now defunct Martel watch factory in Les Ponts-des-Martel. Its bridges are rhodium-treated and feature elegant Cotes de Geneva motif and the winding rotor features the brand’s “DS” monogram. The movement may be small but it comes in a case that is 50.5mm in height. However, due to its extremely slim 10.00 mm width the case looks almost razor thin and easily slips under a long-sleeve shirt with normal cuffs.
The Dubey & Schaldenbrand Superbia NV comes with a chocolate brown dial featuring sun-brushed decor. Although the chapter ring is simply painted, the stick-shaped hour indexes at 3, 6, 9, and 12 o’clock are applied.The Dauphine hour and minute hands are made of steel plated with 18-carat 5N gold.
If you’re looking for a quartz version of this or any other Dubey & Schaldenbrand watch you’re out of luck; as Madam Robert has declared: “From day-one the company never produced a quartz watch and never will. One of our key features is our exquisite hand-engraved movements.”
