De Bethune
Innovative Swiss watchmaking blending avant-garde design with traditional craftsmanship, De Bethune redefines luxury through technical excellence and artistic expression.
Innovative Swiss watchmaking blending avant-garde design with traditional craftsmanship, De Bethune redefines luxury through technical excellence and artistic expression.
De Bethune is an independent Swiss watch manufacture founded in 2002 by Denis Flageollet and David Zanetta, based in L'Auberson in the Swiss Jura. The brand is celebrated for extraordinary technical innovation — particularly in escapement technology, alloys, and surface treatments. De Bethune developed their own proprietary silicon-and-steel balance wheel, titanium dial treatments that produce extraordinary blue colouring, and an independent suspension system for the balance that is unique in the industry.
De Bethune's most celebrated innovations include: the DB2105 silicon balance wheel with platinum inserts providing exceptional thermal stability and shock resistance; the bipolar magnetic system for the balance spring; fire-blued titanium dials created through controlled heating rather than chemical treatment; the 'floating lugs' case design that moves with the wrist; and their proprietary escapement refinements. Denis Flageollet is considered one of the most technically innovative movement designers working today.
The DB28 is De Bethune's signature collection — the purest expression of the brand's aesthetic and technical philosophy. Characterised by concave titanium dials in fire-blued or star-finished variants, hemispherical moon phase displays in blued gold, and articulated floating lug case constructions, the DB28 has become one of the most recognisable watch designs in independent watchmaking. The spherical moon phase — a convex dome rotating to show lunar phases in three dimensions — is one of the most beautiful moon phase executions in the industry.