Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph “Lambo” Verde Mantis is ready to race

What’s that green, loud, slow car that’ll be chugging along for hours on Sunday, September 22nd at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway? Any guesses? It’s a prototype Lamborghini SC63 hybrid race car. The No. 63 “Lambo” in the striking Verde Mantis will be piloted by Italian drivers Matteo Cairoli, Andrea Caldarelli and former French F1 driver Romain Grosjean in this weekend’s IMSA TireRack.com Battle on the Brics endurance race. We’re not sure if the drivers will be wearing watches during the six-hour race, but if you want to wear a matching timepiece, a Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph in the same livery as the race car will be strapped to your wrist.

Roger Dubuis’ high-octane partnership with Italian race team Lamborghini Squadra Corse began in 2017 and shows no signs of slowing down. It’s just like endurance racing. In the old days, endurance races like the 24 Hours of Le Mans were all about keeping the car intact. Modern long-distance races like the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks 6-hour race at the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway are flat-out races all the time. With so many prestigious brands racing head-to-head for hours on end, the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship are some of the most exciting motorsports out there.

Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph

The Roger Dubuis Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph (DBEX1102) fitted with the “Lambo” Verde Mantis is a perfect match for race cars and the way they are driven on the race track. Cars are driven as flat out as possible, trying to set the fastest lap time. Roger Dubuis watchmakers have created the Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph in the same spirit, trying to push the boundaries of watchmaking.

We’ve previously covered the launch of this gorgeous carbon fiber chronograph. In this article, we focused on the technical aspects and history of the automatic caliber RD780. It’s the brand’s fifth in-house chronograph caliber, made up of 334 components and proudly bearing the prestigious Geneva Seal of watchmaking excellence. However, we were thankful to be able to try out one of the 88 boutique-exclusive watches. Unfortunately, a durability test wasn’t possible, but we were able to take it “around” the boutique for a short while.

Wearing the Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph

What is the first thing you notice when you pick up the 45 x 17.13mm Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph? Its lightness. The rather massive case is made from carbon fiber, and like a race car made from a ton of carbon fiber, size and overall weight don’t correlate. Once you’re ready to put the watch on your wrist, you can’t help but notice that the RD780 is on full display, with no face to hide, and as a result, your focus is on the RD780. The in-house movement is simply stunning. So much so that instead of slipping your hand onto the rubber strap with folding clasp, you’ll hold the watch up to your face to inspect the front and back.

Highlights include the balance wheel at 9 o’clock tilted at a 12° angle, the five-arm rotor inspired by Lamborghini’s five-spoke wheels, and the level of finishing on the various bridges.

Wearing the Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph

On the wrist, the contrasting black and green color scheme is not as noticeable as when the watch is in front of you, in the display. When you look at the large Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph from the front, most of the green rubber strap is hidden behind the wrist. This is a good thing, because the case and its contents deserve all the attention they can get. The strap shouldn’t steal that attention. Excalibur’s triple lug design works well with technical C-SMC carbon fiber. The combination of material and design makes the lugs look like a purely functional result of high-tech engineering, much like a race car looks like it, because function trumps form in the pursuit of performance on the track.

The racing vibe is also apparent in the watch’s features. The most striking example is the 120° rotating minute counter (RMC) at 3 o’clock. The chronograph minute counter features a patent-pending three-part hand. The three parts of the hand represent 0, 1 and 2, and the hand rotates past the numbers 0 to 9 to act as an analog 30-minute counter. The result is a highly complex construction, yet easy to read and intuitive counter. Although not functional, very much indicative of the spirit of the SC63 are the Y-shaped bars on the dial illuminated with Super-LumiNova. This detail mimics the headlights of a race car.

Cars vs. Watches

Interestingly, Lamborghini endurance race cars and Roger Dubuis watches produce energy in traditional ways and combine it with modern technology: the Lamborghini SC63 is equipped with a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8 engine, with extra power coming from regenerative braking and a battery charged by the internal combustion engine.

The watch’s RD780 “engine” contains traditional components such as a vertical clutch that quickly and directly raises and lowers the gears in response to the rotation of the column wheel, but it also contains the innovative, patent-pending Seconds Brake System (SBS), which reduces “flicker” and stabilizes the chronograph seconds hand.

Final lap

In an ideal world, I’d try on the Lamborghini-inspired Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph while driving around a race track for hours on end. In a slightly less ideal world, I’d wear the watch for 24 hours straight while operating the chronograph in the Lamborghini Iron Links team’s pits during the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans. And then there’s my world. In my world, I got to wear the watch for 30 minutes inside a Roger Dubuis boutique. It was like driving a go-kart indoors, rather than piloting a high-powered race car on a demanding circuit like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Still, wearing a striking, avant-garde luxury watch in any situation is fun and interesting.

The boutique-exclusive Excalibur Spider Flyback Chronograph (DBEX1102) is priced at €95,833 / USD 107,500 excluding taxes. For more information on the watch, please visit the official Roger Dubuis website

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