At Dubai Watch Week 2025, De Bethune continues to shape haute horlogerie with technical innovation and aesthetic sophistication. The DB Kind of Two Jumping GMT and the DB25 Perpetual Sky reveal two facets of the brand’s expertise: one, a boundary-pushing double-sided reversible travel watch, the other, a poetic perpetual calendar paying homage to celestial wonder.
Examining the front dial of the DB Kind of Two Jumping GMT, the architecture commands attention with its contemporary layout. Time display revolves around a balance wheel positioned at 6 o’clock, framed by a minute scale around the periphery. Visual character is established through layered, polished, and domed shapes, augmented by microlight, shot-peened, and snailed finishes. The bridge, crafted from titanium and arranged on several levels, adds dimensionality. Mirror-polished blued steel hands, with their brushed steel central inlays, generate subtle light effects while securing legibility.
Flipping to the reverse, one encounters a more classically inspired visage: the domed anthracite dial with a guilloché centre and convex levels. Here, polished curved gold hands correspond with gilded hour markers. The jumping seconds are demurely indicated by a polished titanium hand, providing both function and elegance.
By contrast, the DB25 Perpetual Sky presents its own interpretation of dial artistry. This piece’s blued and polished titanium ‘starry sky’ dial is inlaid with individually set white gold stars and a Milky Way depicted via laser micro-engraving and hand-applied 24-carat gold leaf. A harmonious multi-level dial architecture is established with silvered rings encircling each sub-dial, while Roman numerals on the hours and minutes track underscore classicism. Timekeeping is managed by hand-curved, mirror-polished yellow gold hands; at noon, the spherical moonphase in palladium and blued steel is a brand hallmark, patented for its astronomical precision.
Within the DB Kind of Two Jumping GMT resides the manual-wind calibre 2517. Comprised of 394 components and set with 58 rubies, this movement operates at a brisk 36,000 vibrations per hour, with a four-day power reserve ensured by a self-regulating twin barrel. The horological advances are numerous: a titanium balance wheel with white gold inserts for stability, the patented De Bethune balance-spring with flat terminal curve, and a silicon escape wheel. Notable too are the Dead Beat Seconds mechanism and a sophisticated GMT complication, allowing independent adjustment of two time zones through the reversible case.
Finishing at De Bethune levels is sublime. Motion works bridges and concave cover plates are mirror-polished grade 5 titanium, contrasted by shot-blasted and snailed bridges. Openworked barrels add depth, with steel parts polished and chamfered by hand. Such devotion to finishing yields not simply visual intrigue but tactile pleasure for the true connoisseur.
The DB25 Perpetual Sky’s heartbeat is the DB2005V3 calibre, also hand-wound. It comprises 339 parts, with 27 jewels, and delivers five days of autonomy thanks to dual barrels. Mechanical artistry is evident in the titanium balance wheel with white gold inserts, the De Bethune balance-spring, and a silicon escape wheel. The triple pare-chute shock absorption is vital for protection. Its perpetual calendar is fully integrated, tracking date, day, month (with blue discs and gilded transfers), leap year (displayed through a gold pastille), and the spherical moonphase, precise to a single lunar day every 122 years. Decoration throughout is to the maison’s exacting standards: polished titanium cover plates, a mirror-polished steel barrel bridge, and hand-snailed barrels.
Both watches share De Bethune’s fascination with titanium, chosen for its lightness, resilience, and contemporary feel. The DB Kind of Two Jumping GMT features a polished grade 5 titanium case measuring 43.3 mm in diameter, with a thickness finely graded depending on side orientation. Special floating lugs ensure adaptable comfort. The case itself, engineered with a sophisticated swivel mechanism, comprises 42 components crafted from stainless and titanium alloys, robust enough for 3 ATM water resistance, the case can be effortlessly rotated to reveal either dial, reflecting both the ingenuity and precision of the manufacture. The anti-reflective sapphire crystals (hardness of 1800 Vickers) on each side frame both dials with clarity and durability.
Turning to the DB25 Perpetual Sky, the approach is one of refinement and ergonomic harmony. At 40 mm, the grade 5 titanium case ensures presence without excess bulk, with the iconic De Bethune slanted, hollowed lugs offering elegant curvature and wrist comfort. Sapphire crystals front and back exhibit a hardness of 1800 Vickers and are double anti-reflective. The alligator leather strap, secured by a titanium pin buckle, completes the ensemble. Water resistance stands at 3 ATM, entirely adequate for a timepiece of this poetic temperament.
DB pieces are never objects of chance but the result of profound research, nuance, and radical creativity. The DB Kind of Two Jumping GMT celebrates duality, offering the wearer an intimate encounter with both classic and contemporary horology, while the DB25 Perpetual Sky elevates the perpetual calendar to a canvas of cosmic beauty and technical prowess. Both are produced in limited supply, echoing the ‘human scale’ of De Bethune’s atelier.
There are few brands capable of balancing such technical complexity, aesthetic innovation, and artisanal finishing as De Bethune. Whether drawn to the reversible world-time sophistication of the Kind of Two or the poetic astronomical artistry of the Perpetual Sky, collectors are assured of horological substance that sits astride fine tradition and the future of watchmaking.
