De Bethune plunges into the fantasy universe of designer and scenographer François Schuiten, nicknamed the Watchmaker of Dreams, while engaging in a dialogue with the enigmatic world of “The Obscure Cities” through the DW5 Armilia, a unique piece from its Maestri’art collection
A reality shift, a parallel universe in which humans are often left to their own devices – even though reality is never very far away – the imaginary world of “The Obscure Cities” is composed of enigmas and mysteries. The authors of “The Obscure Cities” usher their readers into spectacularly extravagant settings while maintaining a distinctly human approach.
Breaking free of scales and proportions, Denis Flageollet, De Bethune co-founder and Master Watchmaker, who is passionate about “The Obscure Cities”, has imagined a wrist-sized sculpture, engraved as a direct reference to a drawing of the City of Armilia. Reflecting similar gestures, a dialogue was established between Schuiten’s pen and ink drawings and renowned Swiss engraver Michelle Roten, whose talents were enlisted for this particular project.
The structure of the watch thus comes to life or rather creates a reflection of Armilia’s imaginary world, as if the watch were a ship setting out to explore this world. Bearing in mind the idea of achieving a depiction similar to the original drawings, it is no coincidence that De Bethune chose 18K pink gold. The warm colour of the precious metal recalls the equally warm colours characterising the drawings of the city at sunset. With Armilia, De Bethune has created a fascinating work that is like a landmark placed on the frontier between art and watchmaking. Armilia belongs to both worlds. It speaks of space, movement and speed as much as precision and complications.
Armilia is the result of extreme miniaturisation of its mechanism, entirely dedicated to design, of which time is only one element. A small two-coloured sphere indicates the moon phases. Composed of two assembled and polished blued steel and palladium half-spheres, it guides the eye towards the digital and minimalist display of the hours and minutes. All of this is visible through a hand-cut cabochon-shaped tempered glass such as only a rare few are capable of producing. Armilia houses the mechanical hand-wound DB2144V2 movement, which beats at a powerful 28,800 vph, and boasts a power reserve of 5 days.
