Daniel Roth Athys Perpetual Calendar -
A Quick-Look Review

by Su JiaXian

© June 2009

Daniel Roth launched four new models at Baselworld 2009 with the new Endurer Chronosprint sports watch getting the most publicity. However, two of the new launches are also notable, particularly the Athys Perpetual Calendar.

The Athys perpetual will be Daniel Roth’s most affordable perpetual calendar, with a retail price in the region of US$60,000 in gold. That is an especially attractive price, putting it a notch above brands like IWC and JLC, but still below Patek, Vacheron, Breguet and the like.

It is a straightforward perpetual calendar with no bells and whistles – it displays day, date, month, leap year and moon phase. The central portion of the dial is open, revealing the levers and gears of the perpetual calendar, as well as the sapphire discs for the day and month. Those components are set against the movement base plate, finished in gold to match the colour of the case and decorated with vertical pinstripes. At the right angle the chamfered edges of the levers and wheels catch the dial, giving the watch a wonderful glow. Particularly elegant is the exposed wheel with bevelled, curved spokes below the date subdial.

All these elaborate mechanical parts contrasts beautifully with the clean white lacquered perimeter of the dial containing the indices and minute track. Unlike several other Daniel Roth models, the minute and hour track on this watch are kept clean and uncluttered, hence the only markings for the time are Roman numerals for the hours and Arabic numbers at five minute intervals.

Below 12 o’clock sits the moon phase display, a highly polished gold disc with a dark blue moon, though small the moon is hard to miss due to the brilliant shine of the gold disc. All the hands on the dial are flamed blued steel, which set off the moon phase nicely.

Like most other Daniel Roth perpetual calendars, this watch runs on a Girard Perregaux cal. 3100 base with an in-house (designed and manufactured) perpetual calendar plate.

So far so good, beautiful watch with a fair price tag, but nothing is perfect. In this case, the imperfection is glaring – the four buttons on the case.

I detest these buttons; they are a monumental mistake.

This is particularly painful because without them, this watch would be a stunning, amazing and gorgeous. The buttons ruin the lines of the case and give this otherwise sophisticated and charming timepiece a tacky look.

Well I exaggerate slightly. The buttons don’t kill the attractiveness of the watch, though they do diminish it quite a bit. At least the buttons are symmetrical so they are not too obvious; the Athys moon phase, another 2009 launch, has buttons only on the right side of the case which is even worse. And of course the buttons make adjustment of the perpetual calendar extremely convenient.

Taken as a whole, the Athys perpetual is extremely appealing. The accessible price combined with the quality of finish, especially of the dial, makes this very compelling. For those who can live with the buttons – I still can’t make up my mind if I can tolerate the buttons – the Athys perpetual is worth a long and close look.

More photos of the watch follow below.

- SJX

Copyright June 2009 - Su JiaXian & PuristSPro.com - all rights reserved

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