Sympathie

Sympathie is, together with Hommage, one of the two collections with which the Geneva manufacture debuts on the market in 1996. What sets it apart from its more classic sister is the cushion case with sharp corners, a squared but softly lined design that would become one of the most recognizable traits of the brand's earliest production, often paired with double-retrograde dials consistent with the manufacture's specialization in calendar complications.

In 2004, as the brand responds to growing demand for robust watches suited to a more active lifestyle, Sympathie gives rise to the Easy Diver variant: the first titanium case made by Roger Dubuis and, as claimed by the manufacture, the first sports watch fitted with a tourbillon ever to be marketed. The Easy Diver thus applies fine watchmaking — until then associated almost exclusively with dress watches — to a case designed for sporting use, with a sturdier build and greater water resistance than the original Sympathie.

In later years the Easy Diver name continues to appear on skeletonized Sympathie executions, often with a visible movement and titanium cases, keeping the sporting character that had set it apart since launch, while the Sympathie line as a whole remains one of the historic references of the brand's early production, predating the better-known Excalibur.