DE BETHUNE AND THE PURSUIT OF CONTEMPORARY CLASSICISM

De Bethune has long carved out its own path in the rarified world of independent watchmaking. Not through excess, but through an almost philosophical clarity. Its creations are recognisable not because they follow a house style, but because they consistently explore a singular idea: how to reconcile classical horology with contemporary invention.

Its latest novelties distil this thinking into two distinct, yet deeply connected expressions. One looks to the sky with poetic precision in the form of the DB25Vxs Silver Moon. The other turns inward as the DB28xs Dark Sand embraces materiality and shadow. Together, they reveal a Manufacture refining its language with increasing confidence.

With the DB25Vxs Silver Moon, De Bethune returns to one of its most emblematic complications, not to reinvent it, but to refine it. At first glance, the watch is disarmingly classical. A 40 mm case, slender lugs, and a dial that evokes the calm symmetry of 18th-century regulator clocks. Every element is subtly reworked, pared back to its essence.

The focal point remains the spherical moon phase, positioned at 12 o’clock. Introduced by De Bethune in 2004, it remains one of the most intuitive and visually compelling interpretations of lunar display in modern watchmaking. Rendered in palladium and flame-blued steel, the sphere emerges from a deep blue sky, its dimensionality lending an almost astronomical realism.

This is not merely an aesthetic flourish. The mechanism is engineered to require correction only once every 112 years, a level of precision that transforms a poetic complication into a technical statement.

If the DB25Vxs Silver Moon is about light and clarity, the DB28xs Dark Sand explores the opposite spectrum.

Clad in matt anthracite zirconium, the watch immediately shifts the conversation. Light is no longer reflected in polished brilliance. Instead, it is absorbed, diffused, and re-emerges in controlled, almost geological textures. Zirconium itself is central to this expression. Used by De Bethune for over a decade, it offers both durability and a uniquely stable oxidation that preserves its colour over time. In this instance, its satin-brushed finish produces a dense, mineral aesthetic that feels both modern and elemental.

The openworked dial continues this exploration. Layers of black sandblasted titanium, anthracite bridges, and polished accents create a landscape of depth and contrast. The iconic deltoid bridge appears suspended, its guilloché surface catching just enough light to define its form without breaking the overall tonal harmony.

Hints of mauve in the hour markers and hands introduce a subtle chromatic tension, a reminder that even within restraint, De Bethune seeks visual dynamism. Mechanically, the watch remains uncompromising. A hand-wound movement beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour, equipped with the Manufacture’s titanium balance wheel, silicon escape wheel, and triple shock protection system.

What unites these two watches is not their form, but their intent.

De Bethune does not design in collections so much as in ideas. The DB25Vxs Silver Moon refines the notion of classical watchmaking by stripping it back to its most essential elements, then reintroducing innovation with precision. The DB28xs Dark Sand, by contrast, challenges conventional notions of beauty through material experimentation and spatial complexity.

Yet both are unmistakably De Bethune. Both demonstrate a commitment to in-house development, from patented complications to proprietary balance systems. And both reflect Denis Flageollet’s enduring philosophy that each creation is part of an ongoing evolution, a step towards what comes next.