De Bethune

An extremely rare, collectible, charismatic and early white gold chronograph wristwatch from Swiss watch brand De Bethune, founded in 2002 by Italian vintage watch dealer David Zanetta and French watchmaker Denis Flageollet. The present reference was launched in 2002. Case in 18k white gold, diameter 42 mm, 8 mm thick, with ogival lugs, solid white gold caseback with engraved brand name, reference and serial number. Matte silvered solid gold dial with guilloché ‘Grain d'Orge’ motif in the center, slightly recessed sub-dials with fine concentric grooves, chapter ring with dark blue pad printed radial Roman numerals and blued steel ‘Pomme de Breguet’ hands. De Bethune caliber [DB]2002, manual winding, power reserve up to 36 hours. Functions – display of time in hours and minutes, small seconds at 9 o’clock, monopusher chronograph with central seconds hand and 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock. Black leather strap, De Bethune pin buckle in 18k white gold. Numbered edition. De Bethune states that only 28 pieces have been made since 2002. 

The DB1 has a unique status that is significant for the history of the brand and its heritage, because it's the first reference that began the chronicle of De Bethune. In addition, this watch has an interesting feature that further increases its value as a collectible. 

In its early years, the brand had just begun to develop its own calibers, and the watches released in 2002 and 2003 featured calibers purchased from suppliers. This is also true for the De Bethune caliber [DB]2002 of the present example. It’s based on a rare hand-wound monopusher chronograph movement developed by the Atelier for complicated movements THA (Techniques Horlogères Appliqueés). THA was founded in 1996 by independent watchmaker François-Paul Journe, while Vianney Halter and Denis Flageollet, further one of the co-founders of De Bethune, joined him. The caliber [DB]2002 is actually a version of the caliber 045 MC, originally developed by THA for the reissue of the Cartier Tortue Monopoussoir watch. It’s based on the layout of early wrist chronographs from the first quarter of the 20th century, whose functions were switched by pressing the crown. Later, alternative designs were developed with a separate button or two buttons. In addition, this caliber uses a rare combination of a column wheel control and a clutch via a rocking pinion. After being produced by THA, the rights for this caliber were transferred to La Joux-Perret, a former Jaquet-Baume factory, and produced as caliber LJP5000-4. In 2007, Bucherer’s watch division purchased THA.