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Watch 101

A Deep Dive Into De Bethune’s Art of Watchmaking

By Neha S. Bajpai
12 min read

Celebrating 20 years of incredible innovation and technical ingenuity, Assouline’s latest coffee table book on De Bethune gives an insight into the making of a modern horological icon like no other

In the world of haute horology, legacies have always played a crucial role in defining a brand’s position and popularity among collectors. There was a time when micro brands and independent watchmakers worked in the shadows of big conglomerates, supporting them with the production of complicated watch components, engineering, design and sometimes even movement finishing. All this began to change in the late 1990s, when many of these independent watchmakers started to venture out on their own, enthralling the watch community with their distinct aesthetic sensibilities and technical breakthroughs.

At the dawn of the new millennium, Denis Flageollet, a fourth generation watchmaker from France, who had been anonymously making high-end movements for the likes of Breguet, Cartier and Bucherer, launched a brand that would revolutionize the way modern watches were perceived, designed and manufactured. Flageollet and his Italian business partner, David Zanetta, named their new brand after Chevalier De Bethune, the famous escapement designer from the 18th century.

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Over the last two decades, Flageollet and his highly skilled team have introduced 30 in-house movements, 230 unique pieces, 3,131 watches and clocks and 10 registered patents

Nestled in the small hamlet of L’Auberson in the Jura mountains, De Bethune has been at the forefront of the new-age watch movement led by the Indies. However, compared to its contemporaries, De Bethune’s style of watchmaking – be it movement design or material innovation – is radically different and daring.

Over the last two decades, Flageollet and his highly skilled team have introduced 30 in-house movements, 230 unique pieces, 3,131 watches and clocks and 10 registered patents. Known for his unbridled exploration of scientific solutions for watchmaking, Flageollet has always let his work speak for himself. He keeps himself distanced from the limelight and spends his free time in the woods – seeking inspiration from Nature and his natural surroundings. In Seeking Perfect, a recent movie made on De Bethune, Flageollet is shown creating a unique watch case from scratch – starting with the rough iron ore from the earth around his atelier.

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The 220-page book, punctuated with more than 100 illustrations, captures the spirit of the brand and its wildly creative co-founder, Dennis Flageollet, in the most meticulous way

Timed to mark the 20th anniversary of De Bethune last year, Assouline has brought out a befitting tome on Flageollet and his inimitable creativity seen through the company’s key contributions to fine watchmaking since its inception. Written by the very talented Arthur Touchot, international head of digital strategy at Phillip, the 220-page book punctuated with more than 100 illustrations – De Bethune: The Art of Watchmaking– captures the spirit of the brand and its wildly creative co-founder, Dennis Flageollet, in the most meticulous way. 

Here’s what we loved the most about this book:

A Walk-Through Flageollet’s Reimagined Approach to Watchmaking 

Given the author’s immensely impressive journalistic background and deep knowledge of watches, it’s no surprise that this book delves into De Bethune’s evolution in the most thorough and comprehensible way possible.

It opens with an intense foreword by none other than Wei Koh, founder of Revolution Magazine and Grail Watches, who has been one of the first few collectors to have recognised and applauded the huge wealth of talent represented by the Indies today. “The fact that the man behind the brand happens to be one of the world’s most humble, sincere and kind human beings I’ve ever met only makes De Bethune that much more special both to me and to what will be an undeniably remarkable legacy,” he writes.
 

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The reader is pulled into the fascinating world of De Bethune through different eras, starting from Flageollet’s childhood to the years he spent at the Techniques Horlogères Appliquées and finally to the launch of De Bethune in 2002

Spread over 10 segments, the book highlights De Bethune’s unique contribution to watchmaking with the help of insights from noted industry leaders and collectors like Jean Claude Biver, Luc Pettavino, Kari Voutilainen, Swiss Beatz, Aurel Bacs and the brand’s CEO Pierre Jacques.

Over the last two decades, Flageollet has reimagined the basics of mechanical watchmaking to introduce amazing innovations like the spherical moon, a 5Hz chronograph with three different clutches and five centrally mounted hands, a 5Hz 30-second tourbillon with the world’s lightest cage, floating lugs to fit all wrist sizes and its many astronomical-themed timepieces.  “Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Flageollet’s incredible body of work is the speed with which watch-lovers have recognised its superlative level. Most grail watches have been made by companies in existence for hundreds of years, but De Bethune has needed only 20 to join that incredibly exclusive club,” writes Touchot.

Whether you are a newbie in the world of watches or a seasoned collector, this book is a must-read for anyone looking to understand the making of De Bethune – a modern horological icon like no other. Touchot has captured the evolution of the brand with fascinating details on – the key models, patents, in-house movements, unique pieces, awards etc – and linked it to Flageollet’s larger contribution to the world of watchmaking quite effortlessly.

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Touchot has captured the evolution of the brand with fascinating details on – the key models, patents, in-house movements, unique pieces, awards etc – and linked it to Flageollet’s larger contribution to the world of watchmaking quite effortlessly

A Deep Dive Into De Bethune’s Unique Pieces 

Although the scale of innovation at De Bethune over the last 20 years is unmatched compared to even the most long-standing manufactures in Switzerland, the brand makes no more than 200 watches annually. The atelier employs around 40 watchmakers, engineers, polishers and decorators who make everything in-house — be it the cases, dials, hands, baseplates, hairsprings, gear wheels and balance wheels. This self-sufficiency gives De Bethune the freedom to play around with different ideas and make truly customized watches for its clients.

The  two models that encapsulate much of what De Bethune has done in the past 20 years are the DB28, which expresses the futurist dimension of the brand and the DB25, which reflects the more classic side of the brand. The most enticing of them all is DB25 Starry Varius, a time-only watch where one can customize the constellation on the center of the dial displayed on flame-blued titanium. “Over the years, clients have submitted dates that have personal significance, such as birthdays or wedding anniversaries. Using this information, the manufacture can craft custom dials that show the celestial map with the position of the stars on a particular night, a technique done by applying tiny gold pins on a mirror-polished blue titanium dial. This unique feature, which no other high-end watch manufacturer offers, started with the launch of DB25L, before becoming more readily available throughout the collection,” writes Touchot. 

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The capability to manufacture everything in-house, gives De Bethune the freedom to play around with different ideas and make truly customized watches for its clients

Besides the breathtakingly beautiful DB28 Kind of Blue Tourbillon Meteorite and the DB25 Starry Varius Chronomètre Tourbillon, which features its tourbillon at the back of the watch beating at 5Hz and making a full rotation every 30 seconds, De Bethune has also created unique pieces with Jade dials with delicate hand engraving by Flageollet and master engraver Michele Rothen. “The DB 25 Maya Jade presented other firsts for De Bethune, including the manipulation of jadeite…the two pieces of jade, representing  the god of war on the dial side and the god of resurrection on the caseback, were hand engraved in the style of Mesoamerica’s exceptionally skilled sculptors and stoneworkers,” explains Touchot.

In 2021, De Bethune launched the Dream Watch 5 “Season1” – a 10 piece limited edition designed in collaboration with music producer and collector, Kaseem Dean a.k.a. Swizz Beatz. For this really unique watch, De Bethune highlighted the incredible movement within a delta-shaped case fitted with sapphire windows.

The first 20 years for De Bethune have been unbelievably fast-paced and super successful. We are sure the horological sculptures from this brand will continue to inspire many more watchmakers and collectors seeking perfection in every form. Here’s to the next 20 years of incredible mechanical ingenuity!

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