De Bethune Celebrates Día de Muertos

De Bethune presents the DW5 Cempasúchil for Mexico’s upcoming Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead). A one-off creation for the Maestri’art Collection featuring a fully engraved case by Michèle Rothen – drawing inspiration from the work of the legendary Mexican engraver and chisel virtuoso José Guadalupe Posada – Denis Flageollet and Michèle Rothen flame-blued, hand-engraved and decorated the titanium case with gold inserts. Incorporating various 18K gold alloys, including green gold (an 18K gold combined with a smidgeon of silver), and a new ‘marbled’ gold (a blend of white gold, rose gold and yellow gold) – made possible through the use of De Bethune’s own foundry in Sainte Croix.

As for the name, petals of the Cempasúchil flower (marigold) are believed to retain the warmth of the sun and embody the divine. The name stems from Cempohualxochitl, meaning ‘twenty flowers’ in Nahuatl, the indigenous language of the Aztecs who used it for decoration at burials. Due to its divine associations, the Cempasúchil is also prized for its medicinal properties.

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