Hodinkee
Introducing: The Daniel Roth Extra Plat Rose Gold With Gilt Dial
What We Know I'll come clean—I've been a bit more than mildly obsessed with the modern revival of Daniel Roth ever since I got to spend some time with the Daniel Roth Tourbillon in platinum last year. While that watch very much still reigns supreme for me in the lineup, Daniel Roth has just announced a new watch today that feels awfully close to unseating the Tourbillon's title for me. It's the new variation of the Daniel Roth Extra Plat in rose gold, but this time, it's with a black gilt dial. What's important to note is that this is a true gilt dial, not the often misconstrued sense of the word that many modern watches like to use for accents and markings printed in a gold tone. As I've covered on Hodinkee in the past, a real gilt dial is made by taking a base dial blank, printing a protective lacquer mask on what are typically the positive markings on a dial, and then galvanically coating the entire dial in black. The masked portions of the dial are protected from the coating, and after the lacquer is removed, the base metal underneath serves as the dial text. The dial of this Extra Plat starts as a dial blank of solid 5N rose gold, then is engine-turned by hand on a rose lathe to achieve the guillochage on the various sections of the dial in recognizably Daniel Roth style. Afterward, all the markings—Roman numerals, the Daniel Roth logo, dial number, etc.—are pad-printed with a pink varnish to protect them during the subsequent electroplating treatments. After th...