Daniel Roth

An extremely rare, early and important yellow gold chronograph wristwatch from the haute horlogerie Swiss watch brand Daniel Roth, founded in 1989 by Daniel Roth, the Swiss watchmaker of French origin, active until the 2010s. Estimated production period: 1990–1994. Double ellipse-shaped 18k yellow gold case measuring 38 x 41mm, 11.5mm thick, chronograph button at 2 o’clock, sapphire caseback. White metal tone dial with faint pink glow, Clous de Paris guilloché pattern, brushed chapter ring and counter outlines, highlighted by ‘filet sauté’ guilloché decoration, pad-printed black Roman numerals and scales markers. Caliber 2220, hand-wound. Functions – indication of time in hours and minutes, small seconds hand at 9 o’clock, chronograph with central seconds and 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock. Black Daniel Roth leather strap, 18k yellow gold Daniel Roth pin buckle. 

In 1990, a year after Daniel Roth started his own brand launching tourbillon wristwatches, he released two chronograph models – Chronograph Ref. C147 and the present Chronograph Monopusher Ref. C137. He created them as an adaptation and reinterpretation of the Breguet style, in the development of the modern collection of which he was directly and very actively involved in the 1970s and 1980s. Chronograph Monopusher Ref. C137 in this sense is even closer to Breguet’s style. Unlike Chronograph Ref. C147, it does not use the classic early Daniel Roth-style with a grey-toned dial and vertical guilloché lines. Instead, on the dial of Ref. C137 we find a Clous de Paris guilloché pattern, brushed chapter ring and counter outlines, highlighted by a ‘filet sauté’ guilloché decoration, which all look much closer to the classic Breguet style compared to Ref. C147. 

With the focus on collector’s watches, Daniel Roth tended to use for his early wrist chronographs the high-end hand-wound calibers from the Nouvelle Lémania factory. Ref. C147, his first chronograph, as well as the Breguet 3230, which to some extent can be considered the prototype of the Ref. C147, were equipped with the classic two-button Nouvelle Lémania 2320 caliber, which we may find in high-end Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and Roger Dubuis chronographs. Meanwhile the present reference is powered by the extraordinary Nouvelle Lémania 2220 (also known as 15CHT), originally designed in the 1930s. Among the notable features of the 2220 are the Breguet hairspring, single-button control, classic column-wheel layout with lateral clutch, and the chronograph intermediate wheel shifted down to the bottom of the caliber, to the balance wheel.