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Watch Of The Day

De Bethune Celebrates a Decade of DB28

De Bethune marks the tenth anniversary of its DB28 by re-interpreting the 43mm titanium-cased, top-crown watch in three extra-thin versions. All three timepieces re-imagine the DB28 in slightly different ways, but all utilize a new, thinner case with newly designed – but still floating – lugs.  

One of the three celebratory DB28XP debuts flouts a highly polished example of the new ultra-thin case with the prominent De Bethune delta mainplate, one presents a De Bethune Starry Sky design on its dial and the third is equipped with a De Bethune ultra-light tourbillon set in a stunning hand-engraved “barley grain” guilloche pattern.

The Ultra-Thin DB28XP

To create this ultra-thin (measuring 7.2mm compared to 9.3mm in previous models) evolution of the DB28, De Bethune re-designed the case, lugs and the case band, adding a more pronounced curvature.

New finishing needed to reflect the new, thinner profile, according to De Bethune, which is why the new model features highly polished titanium bridges and satin-finished bevels, a visual treat that enhances the thinness of the new watch. Likewise, De Bethune mirror-finishes the emblematic delta-shaped mainplate and with its dial offers a modern take on traditional guilloche technique.

The new ultra-thin titanium case on two of the new watches measures 7.2mm compared to 9.3mm in previous models.

De Bethune of course fits the watch with its own balance-spring with a flat terminal curve, silicon escape wheel and De Bethune triple pare-chute shock-absorbing system. De Bethune has also increased the efficiency (by twenty percent) of its self-regulating twin-barrels to ensure that the hand-wound movement delivers a full six days of power reserve.

DB28XP Starry Sky

Here, De Bethune creates its first-ever blued Microlight dial, comprised of a blue titanium base with applied microgrooves, to deliver a celestial dial show. Those ‘stars’ on the dial are actually white gold pins placed with precision and as requested by the customer.

As you may know, De Bethune allows the customer to select a date, hour and location so that it can create a night sky exactly as desired by the watch’s owner.

The DB28XP Starry Sky features the hour circle in silver, the minutes in Arabic numerals, the De Bethune signature at 12 o’clock and rose gold hands designed especially for the new watch.

DB28XP Tourbillon

With this third interpretation of the DB28 theme, De Bethune rearranges the movement’s architecture by placing an exceedingly lightweight (0.18 grams-which De Bethune calls “the lightest ever”) 30-second, 36,000-bph tourbillon at 6 o’clock. De Bethune notes that the dial of the DB28 Digitale inspired the new design.

Offering hour, minute and seconds indications, the DB28XP Tourbillon’s white dial with silver reflections is stunning indeed. It provides an enthralling hand-engraved “barley grain” guilloche pattern, highlighted by a blued hour circle with polished marker dots.

If you can bear to turn the watch to its caseback, there’s another reward to viewing the DB28XP Tourbillon: a representation of our solar system that references the Aiguille d’Or – the highest distinction of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) – awarded to the first DB28. The position of the planets is that of the evening sky over Geneva when the prize was presented on November 19, 2011.

The position of the planets is that of the evening sky over Geneva when the GPHG prize was presented to the first DB28 on November 19, 2011.

Prices:

DB28XPTIS1, Polished Titanium:  $79,900

DB28XPTIS3v2, Titanium Starry Sky: $79,900

DB28XPTTIS1, Tourbillon with Titanium Barleycorn motif:  $198,000

 

 

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Watch Of The Day

De Bethune Gilds its DB25 Starry Varius

Now aglow in a slimmer rose gold case, the newest De Bethune DB25 Starry Varius is now a bit warmer in tone. Still focusing the eye skyward, with a personalized view of the stars, the latest edition is sleeker than ever with its 8.8mm-thick case and renewed lugs.

De Bethune has re-made the integrated, hollow lugs, first seen in the titanium model from 2018, so that they now hug the 42mm case a bit closer to the wrist. Framing a personalized sky, gold pins stand in for the stars framed by the new polished rose gold 5N case. The sky itself is blued and polished titanium.

De Bethune produces the dial’s Milky Way patterns with its mastery of high-tech laser beam micro milling. The pattern is then gilded with more traditional 24-karat gold leaf. 

The watch continues to be powered by in-house mechanical manual winding DB2005 caliber with six-day power reserve, equipped with the latest in-house titanium balance wheel (optimized for temperature differences and friction) as well as the De Bethune’s heralded triple pare-chute shock absorbing system. Price: $72,000, or $85,000 with diamond bezel.

The new rose gold DB25 Starry Varius case is also made with diamond-set bezel and lugs.

Specifications: De Bethune DB25 Starry Varius

Case: 42mm by 8.8mm rose gold with integrated, hollow lugs and open case back.

Movement: Hand-wound manufacture caliber DB2005 with six-day power reserve. Titanium balance wheel with white gold inserts, optimized for temperature differences and air penetration, De Bethune balance-spring with flat terminal curve, silicon escape wheel
Triple pare-chute shock-absorbing system. Power Reserve is approximately six days with self-regulating twin-barrel and 30meters of water resistance

Dial: Star-studded sky in blued and polished titanium with hand-fitted, white gold pins depicting the stars

Strap/Bracelet: hand-stitched alligator leather with alligator lining and pin buckle in rose gold 5N

 

 

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H. Moser Darkens Dials and Hands

Known for drawing attention to unorthodox designs, whether on April Fools Day or any other day, H. Moser & Cie. tones down the flash this year with three new watches that are more understated than provocative. And unlike the one-off  ‘launches’ of previous years (remember the Swiss Cheese watch?) these new models are both immediately available and will be made in ongoing production.

The new H. Moser Venturer XL Vantablack Black Hands.

            This week H. Moser launches three watches that each feature a dial made from Vantablack, the ‘blackest black’ ever produced by artificial means. And while H. Moser has offered five additional Vantablack-dial watches since the Endeavour Perpetual Moon Concept model introduced the idea in late 2018, this new trio takes the all-black concept to the next level with their minute and hour hands also blackened, though not with Vantablack.

The H. Moser Venturer Vantablack Black Hands.

            The new watches are the Venturer Vantablack Black Hands, available in a choice of two diameters (a 39mm white gold case and a 43mm steel case for the XL version) and the 42mm (blackened steel case) Endeavour Tourbillon Vantablack Black Hands. The tourbillon model, a limited edition of fifty, utilizes H. Moser’s own technically excellent double-hairspring 
one-minute flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock and skeletonized bridges coated in black PVD.

The H. Moser Endeavour Tourbillon DLC Vantablack Black Hands.
Back view of the H. Moser Endeavour Tourbillon Steel DLC Vantablack, showing H. Moser’s own technically excellent double-hairspring 
one-minute flying tourbillon and skeletonized bridges coated in black PVD.

No Joke

            The notion of black hands on a Vantablack dial at H. Moser initially drew attention as an April Fools lark last year. Drawing many positive responses, H. Moser decided to produce the stealthy watches. Launched to elicit an emotional response, according to H. Moser, these new watches might also elicit second or third glances since their minute hands and hour hands are matte-black colored, just barely visible atop their black-hole-like dial.

The H. Moser Endeavour Tourbillon DLC Vantablack Black Hands, with a black case and black skeletonized bridges.

       Did I mention that you won’t see any indices on any of these dials? Or a logo.

       If you’re not familiar with H. Moser’s earlier uses of Vantablack, here’s a primer on the ultra-black material. Vantablack is composed of carbon nanotubes that are 10,000 times finer than a human hair, aligned vertically alongside each other. When a photon hits Vantablack, the material absorbs 99.965% of the light. As our eyes need reflected light to perceive what we are looking at, Vantablack is perceived as the absence of matter, much like a black hole.

Moser CEO Edouard Meylan notes that the Vantablack material was developed by a British company for aerospace use and is now found in telescopes and on certain military equipment. The material can be fragile when placed onto a dial, which is why his watchmakers protect it by using specialized production procedures and by topping each Vantablack dial immediately with a sapphire crystal.

    All three watches are now available via an online sales platform set up by H. Moser & Cie, as well as from H. Moser’s retailers. Prices are $26,600 for the 43mm XL style in stainless steel, $27,600 for the 39mm white gold version and $69,000 for the DLC-blackened stainless steel tourbillon model.  

 

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New MB&F HM10 Bulldog Bares Jaws of Time

 

        MB&F re-imagines still-astounding elements of earlier MB&F Machines with the new Horological Machine No. 10 Bulldog, the independent brand’s latest demonstration of its imaginative watchmaking.

       Underneath a familiar sapphire dome, a dramatic suspended balance rotates to and fro over rounded minute and hour time domes (the Bulldog’s ‘eyes’) in the most biomorphic version of this pairing we’ve yet seen from the mind of MB&F founder Maximilian Busser.

            Just below the ultra-lightweight time domes, however, MB&F’s design genius then takes another bite out of tradition by devising a power reserve indicator unlike any other. True to its name, the HM10 Bulldog’s power reserve indicator displays its function in the form of a metallic set of hinged jaws that shut to indicate your time is up. When the jaws are open, the HM10 Bulldog shows his teeth and is ready to attack the time, backed by forty-five hours of reserve power.

When the jaws are open, the HM10 Bulldog shows its teeth to indicate up to forty-five hours of reserve power.

            You may recall another unusual power reserve in a past MB&F machine. The LM1 Xia Hang from 2014 featured a small human figure that bowed to indicate the watch’s reduction in power reserve.           

             And of course the suspended balance, which we first saw in the Legacy Machine N°1 in 2011, continues here to beat at its leisurely 18,000 vph ­– and still enthralls. This balance has since appeared in most MB&F Legacy Machines, in Horological Machine N°9, and now takes it place at the center of the new HM10 Bulldog.

The balance, suspended beneath the central sapphire crystal dome, beats at 2.5Hz (18,000vph).

            Another feature here that recalls earlier MB&F designs is the ribbed grille and logo just below the balance. This ribbing motif echoes those found on the auto-inspired HM8, HMX and HM5. The automotive echoing continues with the beautifully brushed case, which is shaped as much like a vintage racecar as a four-legged English canine. And as noted earlier, those ultra-light aluminum domes, first seen in the HM3 Frog, and refined in 2014’s HM6, double as the bulldog’s ‘eyes’ and serve as reminders of MB&F’s history of showing the time using unusual displays.

 

This ribbing motif echoes those found on the auto-inspired HM8, HMX and HM5.

 

                  In yet another canine analogy, the strap attaches to case here thanks to a sprung strap attachment, which could be seen as the Bulldog’s legs, connecting snugly to the wrist. Finally, the calf-leather strap recalls a serious dog-walker’s leash and is fastened with either a folding buckle or using Velcro.

The HM10 Bulldog’s strap attaches to its case with a to
sprung strap attachment, which could be seen as the Bulldog’s leg.

    The MB&F Horological Machine N°10 ‘Bulldog’ is available in two launch editions: grade 5 titanium body with blue “eyes”, and a red-gold and titanium body with black “eyes”. Price: $105,000 (titanium) and $120,000 (red gold & titanium).

Specifications: MB&F Horological Machine N°10 ‘Bulldog’

Movement: Manual-winding in-house w/frequency of 2.5Hz (18,000bph), bespoke flying 14mm balance wheel with four traditional regulating screws floating above the domed dials, SuperLuminova on the hour and minute domes and markers, single barrel with 45 hours of power reserve, 301 components, left crown at 11 o’clock for winding; right crown at 1 o’clock for setting the time

Functions & Indications: Hours on left dome (aluminum dome rotating in 12 hours), minutes on right dome (aluminum dome rotating in 60 minutes). Power reserve indicated in 3D by the opening and closing of the jaws (end of power reserve = closed jaws).

Case: 54mm x 45mm x 24mm, Version Ti: grade 5 titanium, Version RT: 18k 5N+ red gold and grade 5 titanium, water resistant to 50 meters, two sapphire crystals.

Strap & Buckle: RT version: hand-stitched brown calf-leather strap with custom-designed red gold folding buckle.

Ti version: hand-stitched blue calf-leather strap with Velcro system and titanium buckle.

 

 

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Greubel Forsey

Greubel Forsey Launches Red Gold QP à Équation

Greubel Forsey debuts a red gold version of its QP à Équation, an ultra-complicated timepiece with complete perpetual calendar, tourbillon and equation of time function. The watch, which was awarded the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève award for the best Calendar in 2017, utilizes a type of ‘mechanical computer’ to manage all the changes in the displays.

The Greubel Forsey QP à Équation, now with a red gold case and ‘chocolate’ colored dial.

      This ‘computer,’ Greubel Forsey’s seventh invention, is an entirely integrated twenty-five-part component composed of a stack of cams with movable fingers that shift the indications on the dial and caseback. The month’s cam changes the month (seen on the front of the dial) and also moves the Equation of Time disc on the back. The years’ cam controls the leap year indication (front) and also the year and seasons on the back.

The QP à Équation, caseback view.

      In summary, the dial side, now chocolate brown-colored, displays the 24 hours of the day and night, the day of the week, the large date, the month, the hours and the minutes; the movement side shows the equation of time and the seasons and the year. Price: $695,000.

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