Results for De Bethune

De Bethune and Swizz Beatz Unveil the DBD ‘Season 2’

Grail Watch 6: De Bethune DB25 Perpetual Calendar 40mm “Rhapsody In Blue”

Calendar and Moonphase Award 2022: De Bethune DB25 Perpetual Calendar 40mm

Introducing the De Bethune: The Art of Watchmaking

De Bethune Takes Personalisation to The Next Level

New Release: De Bethune DB25 Perpetual Calendar

This new perpetual calendar is fitted with a leather strap secured by a polished titanium buckle and accompanied by a second grey fabric strap. Vividly illustrating the technical and aesthetic expertise of the Manufacture, this new Reference DB25sQP marks its entry into the perpetual calendar collection and will be limited to a single production run of 15 units per year.

De Bethune is Seeking Perfect: A Movie on the Art of Watchmaking

Introducing the De Bethune DB25 Starry Varius Aérolite

Introducing the De Bethune DB28XP Star Wheels

De Bethune: Inside the Manufacture

8 Picks From The Ineichen ‘Precious Blues’ Auction On April 23, 2022 Featuring Delectable Rarities By De Bethune, Alain Silberstein, And Many Other Independents

There is a watch auctioneer focusing on bringing beauty into auctions rather than chasing world records by concentrating on (the) two highly popular brands: Ineichen based in Zurich. And here Elizabeth Doerr highlights eight timepieces in its next auction that she thinks we should be paying special attention to when others might not be. Ineichen's Precious Blues auction takes place on April 23, 2022.

Introducing the De Bethune Dream Watch 5 Tourbillon ‘Season 1’

De Bethune: The Greatest Watch Brand You’ve Never Heard Of

SIHH 2016: De Bethune

Sainte-Croix: The Beating Heart of Mechanical Art

The Jura balcony awakens under the March sun. Between sky and mountains, the village of Sainte-Croix and the l’Institut de la Mécanique d’Art (IMA), seem suspended in silence. Yet behind this tranquillity lies one of the most remarkable centres of mechanical art, also known as the automata, for the institute is home to the Association Mec-Art pour la Mécanique d’Art, which is also open to the public to further its mission to promote the craft of automata. “Watchmaking mechanics is industry – serial production. Mechanical art is about unique pieces, for which we use entirely different methods. Some brands focus exclusively on one or the other, while others operate at the crossroads of both – like De Bethune,” explains Denis Flageollet, the cofounder of De Bethune who founded the Association Mec-Art in 2016 together with François Junod and Nicolas Court, both automaton makers. IMA occupies the building originally constructed by Reuge in 2016, which was acquired by De Bethune in 2023. The building now hosts mechanical art activities for Reuge, Van Cleef & Arpels and De Bethune, as well as the Association Mec-Art. “Mechanical art depends on an ecosystem of artisans,” he adds, pointing to the uniquely concentrated geography of Sainte-Croix, “the only town where all these skills coexist.” François Junod agrees, “We live in a natural incubator. Here, everyone talks about mechanical art.” It is precisely for this reason that when Junod was invited to ...

Massena LAB and Vianney Halter Team Up for the “Old Soul”

Before there was MB&F;, before there was Richard Mille or Greubel Forsey or De Bethune, there was Vianney Halter. Alongside brands like Urwerk, Vianney Halter helped to reimagine what watches could look and feel like coming into the 21st century. Writing in 2025, it’s hard to think of a time when the weird and wonderful wasn’t a core part of watch collecting, and Vianney Halter deserves no small amount of praise for his role in bridging the gap between a more traditional interpretation of independent watchmaking and the wide-open world of watch design we now get to enjoy. Still, nearly three decades on from the release of his first watch in 1998 (the inimitable Antiqua Perpetual Calendar), Vianney Halter is still working, and his latest release, the Old Soul - designed and executed in collaboration with William Massena and Massena LAB - is a sterling reminder that the old master isn’t out of tricks just yet. Like Halter’s last collaboration, the Louis Erard x Vianney Halter Regulator, which was released around Thanksgiving last year, the Old Soul leans into Halter’s Steampunk sensibilities, but blends the unique aesthetic with Massena’s signature eye towards historic watch design. The resulting piece is something both classically beautiful and wholly contemporary. Cased in a sedate and handsome 42mm, 12mm thick steel case, the Old School by Vianney Halter and Massena LAB is powered by the Minerva calibre 17’22, a vintage pocket watch movement first introdu...

Light Me Up: The Insanely Colorful Lume of Black Badger James Thompson’s Watches (Lume Fest!)

Working with creative makers like De Bethune, MB&F;, Stepan Sarpaneva, Bamford, Linde Werdelin and more, Gothenburg-based James Thompson – aka Black Badger – has become industry famous as the driving force of a new school of applications of luminous materials. Anders Modig takes us through Black Badger's history, along the way highlighting many of his colorful watch collaborations.

Panerai Introduces the Self-Illuminating Submersible Elux PAM01800

Panerai’s origins lie in highly luminous dive watches for the Italy’s Marina Militare – and its signature models are named after luminescence – and the brand’s latest continues that tradition. Equipped with a miniature lighting system, the Submersible Elux LAB-ID PAM01800 is the fourth of Panerai’s LAB-ID “concept” watches. The PAM01800 is powered by a movement with twin mainsprings, and the lighting module having four mainsprings of its own for 30 minutes of illumination. Initial thoughts Amongst Panerai’s recent launches, the PAM01800 is the most interesting both in terms of technology and relevance to the brand’s history. Though such lighting systems have been done before by Van Cleef & Arpels and De Bethune, the one inside the PAM01800 is more advanced, being brighter as well as having a longer power reserve, up to 30 minutes of illumination in fact. And it is a fitting nod to vintage Panerai watches that were generously lumed pocket watches modified for the wrist. At 49 mm, the PAM01800 is slightly ridiculous in size, and almost the same size as the Rolex Deepsea Challenge, but not far from the dimensions of historical Panerai watches. However, the PAM01800 is expensive at CHF92,800. Despite the interesting technology, the price feels ambitious, particularly since Panerai never really had durable success with its highest end offerings. Motor-driven lume A project that took some eight years to complete according to the brand, the PAM01800 was devel...

Review: the Atelier Holgur Frømand

One of the great things about the current state of the watch world is the insane variety of watches that are available. We’re at a point (or at least approaching one) where brands of all stripes are willing to get creative in ways we haven’t seen in years. We’ve come out of a long period of time dominated by vintage inspired watches that all felt cut from the same cloth, and it feels like we’re now at the beginning of a new movement where makers large and small are aiming for narrower and narrower niches. I’m lucky to have seen some of the watches coming from brands we all admire later in the year, and I’m confident that when the dust settles we’ll be talking about a sea change toward more adventurous designs and a level of watchmaking once reserved for the super wealthy being made accessible to new customers for the first time. This is why I’m more interested than ever in the micro indies I’ve discussed in these pages previously. It feels like there’s a nearly infinite opportunity for brands to create special, unusual, innovative, and original watches for an audience that’s simultaneously incredibly broad and highly specialized. There’s no shortage of collectors interested in getting something unique – a byproduct of the aforementioned decade of lookalike black dialed divers. And yet, each individual watch forces you to ask, “Who is this for?” That’s a question that most of us wonder everytime we look at an MB&F; or De Bethune, and the answe...

How Do You Achieve Chronometric Perfection?

Wei and Jeremiah geek out over the different approaches taken by two independent watchmakers in their pursuit of chronometric perfection: Montres KF’s Karsten Frässdorf and De Bethune’s Denis Flageollet. Frässdorf’s EI8HT Evolution Meteorite is the latest iteration of the bespoke only EI8HT released in 2020 – a modern interpretation of centuries old inventions. Flageollet’s approach […]

Business News: Watchbox Raises US$165m from Investors Including Michael Jordan, Bill Ackman

A pre-owned watch merchant that has smartly transformed itself into a market-making juggernaut – and also the owner of De Bethune – Watchbox just announced it has raised US$165 million from new and current investors. The valuation was not revealed, but CNBC reported it to be almost US$1 billion. The investment was led by a pair of American investment firms, The Radcliff Companies and The Spruce House Partnership. Also taking part were existing investors in Watchbox, including CMIA, a Singapore-based private equity outfit that was instrumental in enabling Watchbox to scale up when it invested US$100 million in 2017. According to Watchbox, the latest round of fundraising also brings a list of boldface names to Watchbox’s roster of investors, including Michael Jordan as well as prominent hedge fund managers Bill Ackman and Marc Lasry. A Watchbox favourite With the pre-owned watch business consolidating, Watchbox and its peers now have the scale to tap on institutional investors – and eventually public markets – for funding. A pre-owned merchant focused on German-speaking European countries, Chronext was planning to go public in mid 2021 but shelved plans for an IPO amidst rumours that it was in talks with another industry player on some sort of tie up. And European giant Chrono24, which began as a marketplace but is increasingly become a dealer with its own inventory, already achieved a US$1 billion earlier in 2021 and is reputed to be seeking a listing. Higher ambi...

Business News: Watchbox Forecasts 2021 Revenue to Cross US$300m

Having been founded in 2017 as a spinoff from authorised retailer Govberg Jewelers, Watchbox has swiftly grown into one of the biggest sellers of pre-owned watches globally. Having started life with a US$100m capital infusion from a Singapore-based private equity outfit, the company has just announced 2021 sales will cross US$300m, thanks to growth projected to top 40%. For comparison, that is approximately equivalent to the annual watch sales of the major auction houses, namely Christie’s, Phillips, and Sotheby’s. The announcement comes just weeks after Watchbox took a majority stake in De Bethune, a respected independent watchmaker that nonetheless struggling for most of its existence, but is now on a sounder financial footing. At the same time, the financial resources available to Watchbox indicate that its investment in De Bethune might be the first of several such acquisitions. At the same time, the Philadephia-based company announced an expansion of its store network, which currently includes outposts in Dubai (pictured above), Hong Kong, and Singapore. It plans eight new stores in 2022, with five located in the United States, followed by Zurich, Riyadh, and Tokyo.  

Chopard Introduces the L.U.C Skull One

Chopard has loosened up its strictly formal, ultra-thin dress watch with recent launches like the collaboration with tailor Kiton. Launched during Mexican watch fair Salón Internacional Alta Relojería México (SIAR), the L.U.C Skull One continues the theme – a slim, black-coated case and the dial decorated with a motif inspired by Día de Muertos, the Mexican festival that celebrates the dearly departed. Initial thoughts The Skull One is not the first Chopard dressed in a calavera, a decorated depiction of the skull used during Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Two years ago, once again for SIAR, Chopard decked out its top-of-the-line L.U.C perpetual calendar with tourbillon in Day of the Dead decor that was hand engraved on the dial and case. But compared to that one-off creation (and also the similarly-themed De Bethune DW5), the Skull One is most pared back in style and also in price. Priced just shy of US$10,000, the Skull One is well priced for a wristwatch powered by a sophisticated, in-house movement that has an elaborately printed dial. And just as importantly, the watch is well designed – the skull motif works well with everything else. The look is coherently put together, with most of the elements done in shades of black and grey – even the case back crystal is tinted grey – but accented with rose gold markers and hands. Simple yet effective While obvious at a glance, the dial is thoughtful in its details. The motif is set apart from the b...

Introducing the DB28 Steel Wheels Sapphire Tourbillon

De Bethune introduces the DB28 Steel Wheels Sapphire Tourbillon, a new take on the DB28 Steel Wheels with its delta bridge and two barrel covers made of blue sapphire crystal.

LONG READ: 12 life lessons with Black Badger, and a clapback to the “juvenile” response to his TAG Heuer coffee watch

If you haven’t heard of James Thompson, aka Black Badger, you’ve probably seen his brightly lit work online. He’s done collaborations with independent watchmakers such as MB&F;, De Bethune, and Sarpaneva, and has more recently been working with the King of Customisation himself, George Bamford. While much of what Black Badger is known for is … ContinuedThe post LONG READ: 12 life lessons with Black Badger, and a clapback to the “juvenile” response to his TAG Heuer coffee watch appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.