Watch prices go up and watch prices sometimes go down (well, in a way) in response to the market. While I can’t say for sure, I would venture to guess that the last 15 years have seen more activity and disparity in watch prices than any other time in history. When else in history could you get a watch for $1 or over $1 million? While the market seems to be cooling to massively priced mega watches, you simply can’t stop ambition. Watch designer Roshan Martin debuts his collection, the highly limited edition Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon, with prices from over 500,000 Swiss Francs to over 1,000,000 Swiss Francs.
Attractive and inspired by “museum watches,” the Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon is a very high-end homage to some of the greatest classically designed watches of our history. The Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon watches begin with the exclusive caliber RM10-TEP manually wound tourbillon-based movements, which themselves make up much of the Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon watch dials.
The movements (said to be just 2.8mm thick) have a power reserve of 55 hours and operate at 18,000 bph. The dial offers a view of the nicely rendered tourbillon to the left, and a subsidiary dial for the hours and minutes to the right. Under the time display is the mainspring barrel which turns as you manually wind the watch via the crown.
While movement only offers the time, it is artistically very appealing. The entire watch is said to be extremely thin at just 5.7mm thick, and yet the dial has an impressive amount of depth to it. If the final watches look as good as the renders, the dials of the Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon pieces will look very nice.
Roshan Martin thankfully combined the very thin case with a nicely sized 43.5mm wide size that is both classic and modern. It should wear nicely with the curved lugs, but then again, at these prices, I doubt people are buying the Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon for its ergonomic appeal.
Limited to just 10 pieces, it is interesting to see the variety of case styles which are available. In addition to precious metals such as 18k rose gold and platinum, Roshan Martin will make a few of the Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon watches in a carbon case (which, oddly or logically, is priced at much more than the platinum or rose gold models that aren’t covered in diamonds).
Roshan Martin is a new name to the luxury watch world but the quality of the design is solid. Of course, the prices for the Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon are… well, “legendary,” and the company only needs to find a few buyers to begin. On top of that, I will remind people who know anything about Swiss prices, that they don’t stop at consumer goods. Services, especially when it comes to the watch industry, are extraordinarily expensive in watchmaking country.
I look forward to seeing one of these Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon watches in person someday, and am always happy to see fresh ideas or original ways of expressing classic refinement in a wrist watch. Prices for the Roshan Martin Légende Tourbillon from the brand are as follows:
– Légende Tourbillon Platinum Version without diamonds : 550,000 CHF
– Légende Tourbillon Rose Gold Version without diamonds : 510,000 CHF
– Légende Tourbillon Platinum Version Full Snow Brilliant set : 650,000 CHF
– Légende Tourbillon Platinum Version Fullset Princesses : 1,100,000 CHF (2 pieces only worldwide)
– Légende Tourbillon Rose Gold Version Fullset Princesses : 1,000,000 CHF (2 pieces only worldwide)
– Légende Tourbillon CARBON : 850,000 CHF (Limited to clients taking the 1 Platinum and 1 Rose Gold in a box of 3 pieces – Limited Edition)
