Introducing the DB Kind of Two GMT Season 3, a stunning collaboration between De Bethune and renowned artist Swizz Beatz. This limited edition timepiece, restricted to just 10 exclusive pieces, embodies an exquisite fusion of horological excellence and creative artistry. The DB Kind of Two GMT seamlessly merges technical mastery with contemporary style, featuring a dual-time display that effortlessly shifts between two distinct dials. This sophisticated design is underscored by De Bethune’s commitment to innovation and craftsmanship, offering watch enthusiasts a unique blend of functionality and aesthetic allure. Crafted with precision in De Bethune’s manufacture in l’Auberson, Switzerland, the watch represents the harmonious balance between tradition and modernity, making it a true masterpiece in watchmaking artistry.
Swizz Beatz and De Bethune: A Fusion of Horology and Creativity
In 2020, American artist, rapper, and music producer Swizz Beatz challenged De Bethune with a visionary concept centered on transparency and light. The DW5, with its unclassifiable design and avant-garde spirit, emerged as the perfect choice for this first limited edition. Featuring a case composed of seven distinct sapphire crystal elements set within a blued titanium exoskeleton, it unveils the intricate details of an exceptional movement. The paradox between minimalist aesthetics and technical mastery embodies De Bethune’s contemporary and boundary-pushing approach to watchmaking.
For Season 2, the DBD model took center stage, showcasing a refined dial where “Côtes de Genève” and Art Deco-inspired apertures create an elegantly restrained digital display, hiding a complexity known only to the movement. The striking contrast of burgundy and anthracite, paired with a case that merges classical inspiration—crown at 12 o’clock, ogival lugs—with the technological sophistication and lightness of polished zirconium, pays homage to the multifaceted creativity of Swizz Beatz.
Now, for Season 3, Swizz Beatz has selected the reversible DB Kind of Two GMT. Beyond its striking dual-identity design, the timepiece offers a functional advantage: a dual-time display across two distinct dials, seamlessly accessed with a single, ultra-precise flipping motion, an impressive feat of horological engineering by De Bethune.
Two Faces, Two Time Zones: A Masterclass in Technical Complexity
Crafting a watch with two distinct and independent dials was a formidable challenge, requiring the development of a highly sophisticated movement entirely conceived and produced within De Bethune’s manufacture in l’ Auberson, Switzerland.
True to the brand’s philosophy, behind the understated elegance of this piece lies a movement of remarkable complexity, designed to offer a seamless and intuitive GMT function. A precise system of gears and pinions ensures that the hands always move in the correct direction, regardless of the selected dial. Fully reversible, the watch offers the wearer the freedom to choose their display based on time zone or aesthetic preference.
Contemporary Face: Home Time Display
The contemporary dial, with its streamlined aesthetic, accentuates the movement while focusing the time display around the balance wheel at 6 o’clock, with minute markers along the periphery. The interplay of polished, domed surfaces, combined with microlight and satin finishes, creates a spectrum of subtle contrasts that enhance the exceptional depth of the movement’s black coating. Despite its compact dimensions, the watch conveys a striking sense of volume and depth, seamlessly integrating both a jumping seconds complication and a GMT function. A perfectly symmetrical deltoid bridge, positioned at the center like an isosceles triangle, contributes to the overall harmony of the composition.
The self-regulating twin barrels introduce a touch of silver, while golden accents on the hour and minute markers, as well as the dual central gold wheels of the jumping seconds mechanism, elevate the refinement of the dial. The polished, blued steel hands, with a satin-finished steel insert at the center, introduce a discreet yet vibrant hue, playing with light to ensure optimal legibility.
A Case That Marries Function and Form
Elegant yet highly technical, the case is crafted from zirconium and satin-finished Grade 5 titanium. Specially redesigned floating lugs ensure an ergonomic fit, adapting seamlessly to the wrist’s natural movement. The case’s unique construction allows effortless transition between the two dials, achieved with a smooth, precise flipping motion. This ingenious micro-mechanical system, composed of 42 components made from corrosion-resistant materials such as surgical steel and titanium, is engineered to withstand external factors including water, humidity, temperature fluctuations, and offers continuous wearability.
Classic Face: The GMT Display
The GMT face, infused with classic De Bethune DNA, embodies the Maison’s signature aesthetic. The hour and minute track pays tribute to the historical DB8 and DB10 models, while the hand-guilloché central motif, with its seemingly random pattern, is subtly highlighted with hints of blue. Some may interpret this as a nod to De Bethune’s signature blued hands, while others might see it as the shimmering reflection of the sea under a moonlit sky—an open canvas for individual appreciation, shaped by the artistic visions of both Denis Flageollet, De Bethune’s master watchmaker and founder, and Swizz Beatz. Adding to the poetic elegance of this side is the refined, fluid motion of the polished mirror-finished steel jumping seconds hand—an expression of pure horological emotion.
Ingenious Simplicity: The Adjustment System
Despite its mechanical sophistication, the DB Kind of Two GMT remains remarkably intuitive to use. The dual-sided display is designed for ease of operation: The wearer first sets their home time on the contemporary face first, using the crown in position 3. The second time zone is then adjusted by pulling the crown to its second position while using the GMT face.
Much like Swizz Beatz—an artist of many talents who seamlessly blends genres and influences—the DB Kind of Two GMT Season 3 distinguishes itself through versatility and innovation. This dual-faced timepiece, adorned with deep black nuances, not only showcases De Bethune’s technical prowess but also highlights the Maison’s masterful craftsmanship in blending materials, colors, and light. With its dual display and two distinct personalities—one contemporary, the other classic—it epitomizes the harmonious balance between tradition and modernity, just as Swizz Beatz merges musical styles to create something entirely unique.
De Bethune DB Kind of Two GMT Technical Specifications
Name: DB Kind of Two GMT Reference DBK2V1SB
Functions: Dual front and back display of hours and minutes, jumping seconds, Second time zone (GMT)
Movement: Calibre DB2517
Type: Mechanical hand-wound movement
Adjustment: Winding, setting the time and the GMT, by means of the crown (3 positions)
Technical features of calibre DB2517
Number of parts: 394
Jewelling: 58 rubis
Diameter: 30 mm
Power reserve: 4 days, ensured by a self-regulating twin barrel – De Bethune Innovation (2004)
Specificities:
Titanium balance wheel with white gold inserts, optimised for temperature differences and air penetration – De Bethune Patent (2016)
“De Bethune” balance-spring with flat terminal curve – De Bethune Patent (2006)
Silicon escape wheel
De Bethune Dead Beat Second – De Bethune Innovation (2011)
GMT allowing to adjust 2 time zones, different on each side
Frequency: 36,000 vibrations per hour
Adornment:
Motion works bridge and concave cover plate in black grade 5 titanium, mirror-polished
Black Grade 5 titanium bridge cover with micro-blasted stages
Hand snailed barrels
Steel parts polished and chamfered by hand
Contemporary single-sided display
Display:
Blued polished titanium hours and minutes indication
Minute indication on the periphery
Hour indication centered around the balance wheel at 6 o’clock
Dial:
Hour ring and black colour minute ring with golden transfer
Classic reverse side display
Display:
Hand-polished and blued titanium hands for hours and minutes
Polished titanium jumping seconds hand
Dial:
Black dial with silvered transfer, with convex levels and with a black and blue bi-color guilloché central part
Case and strap
Case material: Grade 5 titanium / Matte black zirconium
Case diameter: 43,3 mm
Case thickness: 11,4 mm
Crown : at noon on the front side, at 6 o’clock on the reverse side, and integrated into the case
Lugs:
Matte black zirconium floating lugs – De Bethune Patent (2006)
With case turning mechanism that can be clearly positioned on the front or back side
Crystal doubles-sides: In sapphire crystal (1800 Vickers hardness) with double anti-reflective coating
Water resistance: 3 ATM
Strap: Nubuck velcro
Buckle: Zirconium buckle and matte black grade 5 titanium pin
About De Bethune
Located in L’Auberson, in the Canton of Vaud, the De Bethune watch Manufacture is above all a research and development facility, an atelier working with cutting-edge technologies, albeit in the spirit of the great 18th century master-watchmakers. This naturally involves designing and crafting all components individually, while paying meticulous attention to even the slightest details. Not doing more, but instead doing better; drawing inspiration from the past and perpetually reinventing it; building bridges with all fields of knowledge: such are the principles driving the elaboration of De Bethune’s mechanisms and artistic criteria. The quest for perfection and beauty guides the work of the master-watchmakers as they patiently craft exceptional timepieces. The pure style, taut lines and slenderness of the cases represent the inimitable hallmark of De Bethune creations.
