Milky Ways and starry skies from De Bethune
Maverick watchmaker De Bethune, which celebrates the art of watchmaking in the 21st century, is marking the tenth anniversary of its iconic timepiece with five different watches that draw on the DNA of the timeless DB28
DB28XP
De Bethune celebrates the 10th anniversary of the DB28 exploring the ultra-thin. Cut from titanium, the watch is a fusion of space, time and light. The dial is entirely made of Microlight, and offers a modern take on traditional guilloché technique. By playing with light and shadow, it adds depth and offers a more architectural and dynamic result. The hand-wound movement features De Bethune’s balance wheel, visible through the dial opening at 6 o’clock. De Bethune has succeeded in increasing the power reserve to a total of 6 days.
DB28XP Starry Sky
Classic by inspiration with its round, ultra-thin shape, its crown at 12 o’clock and a hunter case back borrowed from pocket watches, the DB28 Starry Sky comes in an ultra-lightweight, mirror-polished titanium. Its redesigned floating lugs only emphasise the modern, even futuristic character. De Bethune has created a blue Microlight firmament, with the dial’s peaks and valleys refracting light and offering a unique spectacle. The watch features a silver hour circle, Arabic numeral minutes, the discreet De Bethune signature at 12 o’clock, and rose gold hands designed especially for this edition.
DB28XP Tourbillon
Offering hour, minute and seconds indications in 30”, DB28XP Tourbillon features an elegant and minimalist white dial with silver reflections rendered in a hand-engraved “barley grain” guilloché pattern, highlighted by a blued hour circle. The tourbillon positioned at 6 o’clock is a titanium creation that beats at a frequency of 36,000 vph. It features an extraordinarily lightweight cage of 0.18 gr. that rotates on itself every thirty seconds and comprises 63 components. Like a flying insect, a microscale exoskeleton keeps it all together.
DB28 Kind of Blue Tourbillon: Milky Way – Limited edition of 10
DB28 Kind of Blue Tourbillon Milky Way features an elegant case in polished grade 5 titanium, mounted on two revisited medium-sized floating lugs. Fully visible on the dial side, the mechanical hand-wound calibre features a domed “De Bethune Delta” minute bridge in mirror-polished titanium, hand-finished. It depicts the Milky Way, using delicate laser surface texturing enhanced by 24-carat gold micro inlays across the minute bridge. The timepiece features De Bethune’s high-frequency, ultra-fast tourbillon; the lightest in the world weighing only 0.20 grams for 63 components, it beats to 1/10th of a second and completes a full rotation in 30 seconds.
DB28 Kind of Blue: Milky Way – Limited edition of 10
The DB28 Kind of Blue Milky Way features an elegant 43 mm case in polished grade 5 titanium, mounted on two revisited medium-sized floating lugs, complemented by redesigned, prominent and more contemporary bullets for superior user comfort. Fully visible on the dial side, the mechanical hand-wound calibre features a domed “De Bethune Delta” minute bridge in mirror-polished titanium, hand-finished. It depicts the Milky Way, is equipped with the latest-generation titanium/white gold balance wheel, and has a more than 20% increased power reserve.
