Artle - DBS Moon Phase in White Gold with Black Dial

DETAILS

In the not too long history of the De Bethune brand, there have been many fine watches that are considered excellent collector’s items. One of the early references, the release of which is known today mainly to collectors and connoisseurs, is the DBS, the brand’s first avant-garde style wristwatch, which was launched in 2005. Many design ideas were implemented in this line, such as an unusual horseshoe shape of the case, an in-house caliber with a visionary esthetic open to the dial, avant-garde “Pomme de Breguet” hands, a unique style of dial markings, a unique design and an unusual position of the crown, to name just the most important. They still characterize the image of the brand’s watch collection today. In our opinion, the DBS collection, which was launched in 2005 as a series of nine references, should be considered historically important.

REASONS TO BUY

The DBS Moon Phase Ref. DBSWS8 in white gold with a black dial is extremely rare on the market, which is not surprising given the low production volume – the brand’s official website debethune.ch reports 8 examples of the DBSWS8 sold since 2005. This is a rarity even for De Bethune. The obvious rarity of this watch is complemented by the brilliant technical craftsmanship embodied by the caliber that can be seen on the dial side. This applies both to the characteristic De Bethune design, with its wedge-shaped “Star Trek” bridge and signature “pare chute” shock protection, and to the fine finishing with blackened Côtes de Genève stripes. But the most attractive feature of this watch, in our opinion, is the stunning design with the horseshoe-shaped case, the extravagant, bullet-shaped lugs at the bottom and a single, hinged lug at the top, which integrates a large, ornate crown.

ABOUT THIS WATCH

All DBS watches were issued on the basis of the platinum DBS Piece Unique prototype which De Bethune submitted to the Only Watch 2005 charity auction. The new design and technical solutions heralded the transition from a predominantly classic esthetic, albeit with a particular vision, to an avant-garde style peppered with De Bethune’s signature elements.

What is important about the DBS watches is that the brand has made two further steps in the development of technical style in this line, which are an integral part of the brand image and represent important inventions. The first is the triple shock protection system with flat steel fixing springs and an elastic balance bridge. The inventor of this system is Denis Flageollet, the technical mastermind behind De Bethune, who patented it in 2005. The whole thing is known as De Bethune’s “pare-chute” shock protection system. The DBS watches with the first-generation hand-wound caliber DB2014 were developed before the introduction of the “pare-chute” system. The balance bridge of the first-generation caliber has a characteristic diamond shape with an attached round skeleton part, which is used for beat adjustment and under which the balance is mounted. The second important technical development is the balance itself. The first-generation watch has a simple monometallic balance, while this was omitted from the second-generation caliber in favor of a sophisticated double-T balance in blued titanium and platinum, designed by Denis Flageollet.

The DBS watches are also characterized by their avant-garde dial design. This refers to the transparency of the openwork dial – so that the movement is completely visible – and to the hemispherical hour markers made of steel, which look like the repetitions of the spherical moonphase at exactly 6 o’clock. The design continues with a minute track with round holes and small steel spheres at the five-minute positions, as well as the unusually shaped hands, which are a nod to the so-called “Pomme de Breguet” hands, realized in a modern avant-garde style. The DBS features an early version of De Bethune’s “Pomme de Breguet” hands with characteristic fan-shaped counterweights that have a stepped profile. De Bethune later dispensed with the stepped counterweights in favor of flat counterweights.

The caliber DB2014, developed for the DB15 and DB16 watches launched in 2004, was shown for the first time in a DBS watch from the dial side and features a large, design-defining central bridge inspired by the Star Trek logo. The Star Trek design gives the DBS, as well as all subsequent references based on the same design, an impressive charismatic character that is typical of De Bethune.

The spherical moonphase, which De Bethune developed for its collection in 2004 and immediately integrated into the DB15 series of perpetual calendar watches, is considered one of the brand’s symbols and appears in a large number of references. In this reference, this complication is presented as modestly as possible: On the dial, there are only the hands indicating the time and a spherical moonphase, composed of two hemispheres in platinum and blued steel. It is located at 6 o’clock, where the dial has an accentuated protrusion.