Cometh the hour: Roger Dubuis' timely pop-up at Harrods

This is the first time we've launched a pop-up of this scale in Harrods. We envisaged a space that would be neither a boutique nor fully centred on product – a way we could visually explain the brand to the customer. That's how we came up with the idea for our takeover of the store's Brompton Road windows – they feature a neon display that incorporates key elements such as the signature star that appears on the dial of our Excalibur watch.

Roger Dubuis is known for its skeleton watches and the Excalibur collection, with its strong, architectural identity and transparent dial, was a muse for the design of the pop-up. It conveys that transparency, but in an inviting way – it's welcoming without being too exposed.

Harrods is the most important department store in the world and we wanted to produce something special to honour that, so we launched two limited editions exclusively for the occasion. The first is an extension of our Velvet women's collection and features diamonds embedded in a carbon case. For men, meanwhile, we have the Excalibur Spider Skeleton Flying Tourbillon with black spinels, which showcases the technique of setting gems into rubber that we premiered last year.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The pop-up also afforded us an opportunity to launch our new tagline: "Dare to be rare." Roger Dubuis is often considered the "bad boy" of the watchmaking world and we wanted to convey the notion that we are daring and extravagant – not just on the design side, but also in research and development. On one hand, we have experience of in-house manufacturing, of creating a beautiful handmade object; and on the other, we're able to be as creative as we want. There are not many other brands that can say that.

We have very strong retailers in the UK but don't yet have a standalone store. This is one of the purposes of the Harrods pop-up – to get people here even more excited about the brand. As for a boutique in London, it's on our road map – we just need to find the right location.

Visit the Roger Dubuis pop-up space, part of Harrods' Made with Love and Precision watch edit, until 30 July; rogerdubuis.com; harrods.com

DOROTHEE HENRIO, a self-proclaimed "Richemont baby", has been with the luxury group since 2000. She worked with watch brands Baume & Mercier and Cartier before taking on the role of international marketing director at Roger Dubuis