De Bethune – DB Eight Chronograph Titanium Edition

 

De Bethune – CURRENT DB Eight Mono Pusher Chronograph Titanium Edition 2023

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De Bethune announces its 31st in-house calibre with the release of the DB Eight. Dedication to the pursuit of perfection continues to produce excellence within the Manufacture.

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Geneva, 26 March 2023 – De Bethune proudly announces the DB Eight. Its monopusher chronograph continues a long tradition of classic single-button chronographs, including the DB1 and DB8.

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In the early days of De Bethune, founders David Zanetta and Denis Flageollet were fond of saying that "to compose contemporary music, you have to have a perfect command of classical music." This is why De Bethune began by creating classical watches based on the fundamental principles of classical watchmaking and by mastering all its subtleties. This is how all technical and artistic innovations are born.

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Twenty years later, Denis Flageollet decided to intensify his research and revisit his classics with Claire Wolf, his right-hand person to whom he has been passing on his knowledge and codes for over 14 years.

The DB Eight, an evolution

The DB Eight is an evolution in De Bethune's exploration of the single-pusher chronograph. While the DB28 Maxichrono is De Bethune's most technically unusual chronograph, the Maison’s very first watch featuring this function – the DB1 – was a classic two-counter monopusher chronograph in the purest tradition of stylish 20th century chronographs.

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In a quest to bring an idea launched 20 years ago to fruition, De Bethune has now poured all its technical and aesthetic expertise into releasing a chronograph on a par with its high demands.

Pared-down design

The DB Eight was born of a quest for elegance and a pure, subtly balanced design. Together, Denis Flageollet and Claire Wolf designed a supremely refined classic guilloché dial and developed a brand-new chronograph calibre by placing its counter at 6 o'clock so that it could be as large as possible in order to provide a highly readable 60-minute indication.

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When the chronograph is reset to zero, the tail of the chronograph hand subtly covers that of the minutes counter in such a way that the hands are overlaid.

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A very symmetrical and distinguished result for a watch housing one of watchmaking’s most demanding mechanisms.

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This perfectly designed maxi dial, framed by a slender bezel and a delicate railway-type outer seconds track endows this 42 mm watch with both undeniable elegance and perfect legibility.

DB3000, 31st in-house calibre

Beating inside is a new chronograph calibre: the 31st produced by De Bethune and its fourth monopusher chronograph base calibre after the DB1, DB8 and Maxichrono.

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Denis Flageollet and Claire Wolf chose to develop a classic column-wheel mechanism equipped with an instantaneous minutes counter, which is quite a technical feat for a single-pusher calibre with a 60-minute counter. The extreme thinness of the wheel’s teeth makes it a veritable technical challenge.

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Although the calibre remains traditional, the technology of the functions is on the cutting edge of the knowledge acquired by the Manufacture. All the elements of the escapement and balance are based on the finest elements featured in De Bethune calibres, notably its patented balance-spring with flat terminal curve, titanium balance with white gold inertia-blocks, along with the silicon escape-wheel.

Grade 5 titanium case

Demonstrating the greatest respect for the traditions of Manufacture De Bethune as well as the history of classical watchmaking, the DB Eight perfectly combines technical progress, state-of-the-art materials, refined design and a harmonious movement.

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Its pure design features all-titanium exterior elements including the case middle, case-back, bezel and hands. This results in an extremely pleasant light feel for the wearer and is highly unusual for a traditional watch.

Back to roots

It should be noted that this return to roots 20 years on was in some ways predictable, given that Denis Flageollet often wears an original platinum DB8. The aim was to perfect performance and intensify the experience for passionate owners.

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The new DB Eight is both an update of a beloved classic and a versatile new timepiece well suited to everyday wear: an expression of the pursuit of performance and beauty inherent in all De Bethune watchmaking.

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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Collection  CURRENT

Name:  DB 8 Edition

 Limited edition of 10 numbered pieces

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Reference:  DB8RETIS1

Movement : DB3000
Type : Mechanical manual-winding caliber
Adjustement : Winding and setting the time by means of the crown (2 positions)
Monopusher button integrated in the crown for chronograph
functions
Technical features of caliber DB3000
Number of parts : 281
Jewelling : 31 jewels
Diameter : 30 mm
Power reserve : 60 hours
Specificities : Titanium balance wheel with white gold inserts, optimized 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
Frequency : 28'800 vibrations per hour
Adornment : All steels are hand-beveled and polished
Chromium-plated steel chronograph bridges with drawn lines
Hand-snailed barrels
Handmade finishing decorations 
Functions : Hours, Minutes, chronograph mono pusher button with 60 s seconds
counter and 60 min instantaneous minute counter
Display
Display : Hour hands, minutes, polished titanium seconds and minutes counters
Dial
Silver, radiating guilloche 12 sectors. 
Blue arabic numbers. 
Indication of the 60-minute counter by a silvered barley grain engine-turned sub-dial at 6 o'clock.
Case
Case material : Polished grade 5 titanium
Diameter : 42.4 mm
Thickness : 9,2 mm
Lugs : Ogival lugs
Crystal : Saphir crystal (1 800 Vickers hardness), with double anti-reflective coating
Case back : Open back
Saphir crystal (1 800 Vickers hardness), with double anti-reflective coating
Water-resistance : 3 ATM
Strap
Extra-supple alligator leather, alligator lining
Buckle :  Pin buckle in grade 5 titanium

🔰 Edition of ✅only 10 pieces
🔴Price: 85,680 EUR 💰

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Press release -- Geneva 2023
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De Bethune Geneva Office 
25 Grand-Rue 1204 Geneva
Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 310 22 71
Fax: +41 22 310 33 40
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Louis Erard – Excellence Marqueterie Edition

 

Louis Erard – Excellence Marqueterie 42 mm Automatic Limited Edition 2023

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 CRAFTSMANSHIP FROM WOOD TO WRIST

Louis Erard continues to enliven métiers d’art with a contemporary perspective and an impossible challenge: to make the most exclusive craftsmanship accessible, this time with the extreme practice of miniature marquetry featured on the dial. Each dial is handmade, piece by piece, by an independent artisan, Bastien Chevalier, based in Sainte-Croix.

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Bastien Chevalier

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At such a size, marquetry is pushing the boundaries of its own discipline. With such a pattern, marquetry becomes madness. And at this price, this watch should not even exist.

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 Everything in this achievement comes cubed in geometry, technique, and aesthetic and commercial innovation. Because everything is new. The artisan has never produced such a large series: 99 pieces. No wood marquetry dial has ever been available in a watch for less than 4,000 Swiss francs. The pattern alone is an unthinkable challenge.

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The watch would not exist without a certain timely meeting between Manuel Emch, director of Louis Erard, and Bastien Chevalier, specialist in miniature marquetry in Sainte-Croix.

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For Louis Erard, the goal is always the same: to make the delights and deliriums so exclusive to métiers d’art of high-end watchmaking accessible. And not only in terms of price, but culture, with an irrefutably contemporary spirit. 

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The checkerboard expresses the spirit of the times: aesthetic, playful and eye-catching, with a trompe-l'oeil pattern that protrudes and hollows out under the light.

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 Louis Erard has borrowed the motif once before, in a series of 99 watches dedicated to hand guilloché. On this marquetry dial, the challenge is intensified. Bastien Chevalier himself — one of the few, if not only, Swiss experts in this art — recognises that taking up such a challenge is pure madness: “Geometric design is the hardest thing to do. You have to be totally precise. The pattern won’t permit any error — the slightest deviation is visible.”

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Each facet is cut into the wood by hand with a saw. Each colour is in a different wood: three shades of blue-tinted tulip tree, and grey-tinted willow burl, cut in the direction of the grain. 

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The cut must be of surgical precision to a tenth of a millimetre, if the pieces are to be assembled without the slightest gap appearing in this surgical-level jigsaw. Bastien Chevalier has developed his own technique to achieve this remarkable feat: conscious breathing, in the style of yoga masters.

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 The dial incorporates more than 70 elements. The series is made up of 99 pieces. The patience required of this work is extreme, and the production time exceeds the normal budgetary limits for a dial at this price.

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Once cut, the tiny pieces are meticulously sorted and deposited with the tip of a scalpel under a binocular microscope, then fixed on the first mount. The assembly is then glued on the appropriate side. 

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The back is prepared so that it can be attached to the dial’s metal base, and then the outward face is delicately taken again to be sanded to the correct thickness: it’s almost imperceptible, a few hairs’ breadth. Each step is decisive; there’s no going back. Time passes. The first dial is complete… 98 to go.

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In this highly exclusive model, Louis Erard brings a rare craft to the fore — a craft that business logic would normally reserve for discerning collectors — and combines it with fine watchmaking. A modern case with precise shapes in polished steel, 42 millimetres in diameter, with domed sapphire crystal, water-resistant to 50 metres and bearing the signature fir tree crown. 

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The blue grained calf leather strap features tone-on-tone attachment points, Louis Erard blue lining and a pin buckle. The movement is an automatic Sellita SW261-1 with hour and minute function, visible from the open caseback.

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Finally, the shock price: less than 4,000 Swiss francs. Again, completely unheard of on this type of finish and at this level of exclusivity: Louis Erard’s way and art of taking on the challenge of contemporary watchmaking. More métiers d’art will follow.

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TECHNICAL DETAILS

Collection: Excellence

Model: Excellence Marqueterie 42mm

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Ref. 34237AA58  

🔰Limited edition of 99 pieces

Movement
Automatic, Sellita SW261-1 calibre,
3 hands with small seconds at 6 o’clock,
11½’’’, Ø25.60 mm, height: 5.60 mm,
31 jewels, 28,800 VpH (4Hz),
élaboré grade movement, meticulously decorated,
special openworked oscillating weight with black lacquered Louis Erard symbol, approx.
38 hours of power reserve
Functions
HM
Central hour and minute hands
Case
Polished stainless steel, Ø42 mm,
lug width: 22 mm, lug to lug: 49.60 mm, thickness: 12.25 mm, 
3 pieces, domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides and Louis Erard logo transferred in black under the glass, movement visible
through the transparent blue caseback, water resistant up to a pressure of 5 bars (50 m/165 ft),
signature fir tree crown, caseback engraved with “Limited Edition 1 of 99”
Dial
Cubed pattern made of wood marquetry, entirely handmade in the traditional way by Bastien Chevalier (Mbch), composed of more than 70 pieces in 2 wood species, 
stained in 4 different colours (grey-stained willow burl and tulip tree stained in 3 different blues for the cubes)
Hands Signature fir tree hands in blued steel
Strap
Blue grained calf leather with tone-on-tone attachment points, blue grained calf leather lining, 
polished stainless steel pin buckle, functional catch spring bars enabling the strap to be changed quickly
Dimensions: 22/20mm width, 80/115mm length

🔴 Recommended retail price: CHF 3,900💰

3 YEARS WARRANTY

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ABOUT BASTIEN CHEVALIER, MBCH

After completing an apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker, Bastien Chevalier perfected his skills in marquetry under the guidance of the former winner of the prestigious competition for the best craftsperson in France: Jérome Boutteçon. The latter taught Bastien Chevalier the art of marquetry for nearly six years at cabinetmaker's Philippe Monti in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland.

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Specialising, among other things, in cigar boxes for Davidoff & Cie, as well as Reuge SA music boxes, in 2003, the company experienced financial difficulties. That year, Bastien Chevalier made the decision to create his artistic marquetry workshop, producing various fine pieces and commissions for clients such as François Junod (automaton manufacturer), Vianney Halter (watchmaker) and Reuge SA (music boxes).

Bastien Chevalier was born in the graffiti years, and he lays claim to this. Bastien Chevalier’s highly contemporary style is a radical departure from the often old-fashioned perception of marquetry and its "Belle Époque" style images.
Winning international prizes and exhibitions in trade fairs and art galleries, his work is becoming increasingly renowned day by day.

Sainte-Croix, Switzerland

Tel +41 (0) 79 944 59 08 

 info@bastienchevalier.ch Rue du Jura, n 7
1450 Sainte-Croix
Switzerland  

www.bastienchevalier.ch

 
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Press release - 2023
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CONTACT:
LOUIS ERARD
Rue de l’Ouest 2
CH–2340 Le Noirmont
Suisse
info@louiserard.com
+41 (0) 32 957 65 30 
Mélanie Kilcher-Berberat, Marketing Manager
+41 32 957 66 45, Melanie.Berberat@louiserard.com

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