Daniel Roth is one of the names that independent watchmaking keeps returning to. The watchmaker built his reputation on a distinctive double-ellipse case and a particular idea of finishing, and since the name was revived in 2023 under the direction of La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, the work has been to reconstruct that language piece by piece rather than reinvent it. The Extra Plat is where it comes through most plainly: a modern reading of Roth's early time-only watches, with a slim hand-wound movement and an emphasis on decorative craft. The latest version, the Extra Plat Rose Gold Gilt, is the darkest and most elaborate of the line, and the change is almost entirely in the dial.
The double-ellipse case
The case is the constant. It measures 38.6mm by 35.5mm and 7.7mm thick, fully polished and cut from 5N rose gold, with the ellipsocurvex profile and central gadroon that have signalled a Daniel Roth from the start. A flat anti-reflective sapphire covers the dial, a second sapphire reveals the movement at the back, and water resistance is 30 metres. Nothing here is new, which is the point; the shape is doing the identifying, and the Rose Gold Gilt leaves it alone.
A dial made, not printed
What is new is how the dial is built. Its base is gold, finished with a fine pinstripe guilloché cut by a single artisan on a traditional rose engine. That surface is then put through several electroplating treatments to bring it to a deep black. The trick is in the markings: the Roman numerals, the Daniel Roth signature and the individual dial number are not printed on top. They are masked before the plating, and when the masking is lifted the bare gold underneath is left showing, so the indications appear to rise out of the black surface rather than sit on it. The result is a glossy black ground with a gold minute track and rose-gold numerals, framed by a rose-gold case, and it reads with more drama than the lighter dials the collection has shown so far.
The DR002
Behind the dial is the Calibre DR002, the manually wound movement developed and assembled at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton specifically for the Extra Plat. It is a shaped movement, 31mm by 28mm and only 3.1mm thick, built from 143 components with 21 jewels, running at 28,800 vibrations per hour for a 65-hour power reserve. The finishing is where the money goes: hand-polished bevels, defined interior angles, Geneva stripes, circular-grained mainplate and mirror-polished steelwork, with a bar-click winding system that gives a tactile feel when you wind it. The caseback of the watch shown carries the reference DBBD04 and the number AN5594 next to the Au750 gold hallmark, marking it as an individually numbered piece.
Price and place
The Extra Plat Rose Gold Gilt is worn on a calfskin strap with a gold pin buckle and, in the manner of the revived Daniel Roth, is not held to a fixed edition number but limited by how many the workshop can make. It is priced at CHF 55,000 before tax and reaches buyers from September 2026. That places it firmly in haute horlogerie, but the spend is legible: a case shape with real history, a dial made by hand through a genuinely difficult process, and a movement built and finished in-house. For a name being rebuilt one reference at a time, the gilt dial is the kind of quiet, technical step that suits it.
Sources: Monochrome Watches and Daniel Roth.
