De Bethune – Dream Watch DW5 Tourbillon ‘Season 1’ Titanium Blued Limited Edition 2021
The austerity of metal transformed into an expression of life.
De Bethune presents the Dream Watch 5 Tourbillon ‘Season 1’
This timepiece is the result of a genuine challenge
issued to De Bethune by the American star Swizz Beatz.
Denis Flageollet and his team came up with a response.
the outcome is an exceptional timepiece, breathtaking in its singular technical
sophistication and aesthetics, as visually understated as it was complex to create.
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO
Master Watchmaker and brand founder Denis Flageollet set to work with his team on creating a timepiece that would convey his resolutely futuristic vision of the watchmaking art. The design of this watch was to be fully in line with their existing achievements, yet at the same time challenging them to create a singular, refined and sophisticated timepiece that would remain user-friendly and easily legible, based on materials and construction typifying De Bethune's quest for contemporary aestheticism.
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Contemporary creations
Among the various collections, the one titled “Dream Watch” encompasses the most experimental creations. Impossible to classify, it is at once the most extreme form, yet also the one that best reflects the philosophy developed by the brand, i.e. an approach involving fundamental exploration of watchmaking.
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A veritable wrist sculpture, Dream Watch 5 derives its distinctive shape from its predecessors, from the bridge of Dream Watch 1 to the case of Dream Watch 4, and is thus part of ongoing research into shapes, materials and colours. With each new creation, the design is refined in the direction of a curved deltoid motif, a major component of the aesthetics of the collection and more generally of De Bethune watches.
Finally, the Empreinte (mark) made on all young designers by Pierre
The DW5, a stature naturally conducive to transparency
Amid the vast range of horological complications and skills in which De Bethune has become a virtuoso, the mastery of sapphire crystal has played one of the leading roles for the teams at the Manufacture in the Swiss Jura town of Sainte-Croix.
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO 
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO
Far from simply carving the case from a single block of sapphire using customary traditional methods, Denis Flageollet endeavoured to adapt the sapphire to the watch's titanium case. This was no small technical challenge, as the team had to insert no less than seven different sapphire parts – each crafted with unique curves and proportions – which would then be perfectly embedded into the blued polished titanium exoskeleton.
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Superlative timekeeping precision
While De Bethune is dedicated to pursuing an aesthetic and creative approach to the DW5, the team remains faithful to the essence of watchmaking, which involves developing and producing the most accurate possible timepieces. In the case of the Dream Watch 5 Tourbillon 'Season 1', the mechanical hand-wound DB2149 movement incorporates a high-speed tourbillon developed by De Bethune.
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO 
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO
The time can be read off in digital format through a trapeze-shaped sapphire aperture with a jumping hours disc and another trailing minutes disc. The centre displays the regular rotation of the spherical moon phase, a patented complication so accurate that it requires adjustment by lunar day only every 1,112 years. The watch is wound and set by means of a crown adorned with a blue cabochon-cut sapphire.
Supremely refined finishes provided by the deft hand of the engraver Michèle Rothen
The De Bethune approach to artistic crafts bears vibrant tribute to human skills. Among the various handmade decorations specific to De Bethune movements, the mirror-polishing of the movement components creates an astonishing play on light. The surface of each component is patiently polished until it becomes a real mirror. It can take up to several days of polishing of the different parts to achieve this result.
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Inside the case, by dint of craftsmanship involving a blend of engraving and micro-sculpture, the work of Swiss engraver Michèle Rothen – who has been collaborating with Denis Flageollet for many years – consisted of patiently and meticulously raising the material with the tip of her burin. She thus retouched each surface state, each micro-detail and each relief in order to "lift" the design and thus perfect the whole – a process much like redrawing the piece one last time and thus enabling it to catch the light even more generously.
Blue, a fundamental element
Finally, for De Bethune, the colour blue carries a broad and deep meaning, associated with the notion of fullness: within oneself or beyond, and extending to the unfathomable infinity of the universe, the source of life. Evoking water, sky and space, it is envisaged by Denis Flageollet as a luminous vibration. "The cosmos, the heavens above… when you want to see time evolve and you have no instruments, you observe the sky. This is one of the recurring themes in watchmaking.” Since the foundation of the brand, blue has been intimately associated with the technical and aesthetic research and development of the maison. The Dream Watch 5 Tourbillon 'Season 1' will be a single-colour version. The radical and mesmerising blue of the different materials stems from artisanal and natural treatments specific to each.
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO
Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO
A 10-piece limited edition presented by De Bethune with the collaboration of its friend and fine watchmaking connoisseur Swizz Beatz.
About Clara Martin: ▶️ Clara-Martin.com
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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Collection Dream Watch
Name: DW5 Tourbillon ‘Season 1’
Reference: DW5TSB
Number of timepieces: 10-piece limited edition
Functions: Hours, minutes, central spherical moon-phase indication, 30-minute
indication on the ultra-light silicon and titanium De Bethune tourbillon cage appearing on the back
Movement: Calibre DB2149
Type: Mechanical hand-wound
Adjustments: By means of the crown adorned with a blue cabochon-cut sapphire
Three positions for winding, the spherical moon phase and time-setting
Technical characteristics of Calibre DB2149
Number of components: 356
Jewelling: 35 jewels
Diameter: 30 mm
Power reserve: Four days, ensured by a self-regulating twin barrel
De Bethune innovation (2004)
Specific characteristics : Titanium balance-wheel with white gold inserts
De Bethune patent (2016)
De Bethune balance-spring with flat terminal curve
De Bethune patent (2006)
Silicon escape-wheel
Spherical moon-phase display accurate to within one lunar day every 1,112 years
De Bethune patent (2004)
De Bethune ultra-light silicon and titanium 30-second tourbillon
De Bethune innovation (2008)
Frequency: 36,000 vibrations/hour
Decorations: Hand-crafted finishes and decorations
Dial: Blued grade 5 titanium aperture frame
Display
Displays: Jumping-hour aperture at 3 o’clock
Minutes indication on a dragging rotating disc
Palladium and flame-blued steel spherical moon-phase indication
accurate to within one lunar day every 1,112 years De Bethune patent (2004)
Case
Ogive-shaped in hand-polished and blued grade 5 titanium,
openworked with sapphire blue inserts and hand-engraved motifs
Diameter: Length 58 mm – width 47 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Crown: Cabochon-cut blue sapphire
Glass: Hardened mineral
Caseback: Screw-in back in polished and blued grade 5 titanium, openworked
with blue sapphire inserts and opening onto the ultra-thin silicon and
titanium De Bethune tourbillon performing one rotation every 30 seconds
De Bethune innovation (2008)
Water resistance: 3 ATM, equivalent to 30 metres
Strap
Blue canvas/leather with an additional rubber strap
Buckle: Titanium with polished and blued titanium pin buckle
EDITION Limited edition to 10 pieces
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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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