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De Bethune DB25 Digitale: Dressy Development Turns Their Beast Into a Beauty
The Digitale has always been one of De Bethune’s least subtle watches: a literal hockey puck on the wrist. Does a new smaller and dressier version actually make sense in their line-up?
The first De Bethune I bought was the DB28XP Starry Sky. To me, it was the perfect blend of everything that makes a De Bethune unique: The floating lugs that are part of De Bethune’s DNA, the slim highly polished titanium case and the flame-blued dial that I had customised with a constellation that was special to me.
Since then, De Bethune has introduced a smaller version of the DB28 line; the DB28XS with a 38.7mm diameter case. This undoubtedly made the De Bethune ownership proposition more interesting to those with smaller wrists but, whenever I try one on, I find it sits very flat on my wrist and means I don’t see the special articulating lugs being put to use so I personally prefer the larger 43mm case size of the original DB28XP.
Why is this relevant? Well, the previous Digitale (DB28DN/S) had case dimensions of 45mm in diameter and a thick (for De Bethune) 11.6mm height. Despite this, it still managed to just about work on my wrist because of those clever lugs that are fitted to all of the DB28 models.
Smaller and Dressier
With this new version of the Digitale, De Bethune has shrunk the case to 42mm as well as changing the DB28 style lugs to the fixed “bullet” versions found on DB25 models.
The smaller case size, combined with the more traditional lug design immediately changes the feel of the watch from something at the sporty end of the De Bethune range to something more dressy.
The new dimensions also mean that the watch is much more wearable for all wrist sizes than the previous Digitale and it sits incredibly comfortably, despite the 11.9mm thickness.
No Negative with Redesigned “Moon River’ Dial Layout
A feature that the previous Digitale had in common with a number of watches using a jumping hour with analogue minutes is that the dial layout creates a lot of negative space. Despite the signature De Bethune spherical moonphase at the centre of the dial and the impressive “barleycorn” guilloche finishing, the dial always felt a bit empty to me personally.
The new Digitale, with eighty-two different elements, changes that completely. The minute track has been moved from the top half of the dial to the bottom half, which instantly makes it look more balanced to me
Whilst keeping the guilloche finishing, De Bethune has also added both Starry Skys and Starry Seas finishing to the same watch for the first time. The multiple different surfaces create a real depth to the dial and completely remove the “hockey puck” look that seemed to affect the previous Digitale.
Another small touch that makes a big difference is that the De Bethune logo is now connected to the bottom part of the ring separating the starlit sky from the “moon river”. This alone is much more aesthetically pleasing than the straight logo floating in the bottom half of the dial on the previous Digitale.
From a design perspective, what really brings the whole thing together beautifully is that if you were to draw a straight line from the edge of the logo to the outside of the dial, that is exactly where the cutout in the barleycorn motif for the minute track begins.
A Surprise On The Reverse
Turning the watch over reveals a special surprise. The exhibition caseback shows the third generation of the DB2144 calibre with the traditional De Bethune delta shape. However, for the first time the deltoid bridge has been given Starry Seas style random guilloche finishing.
It’s like having part of the beautiful dial of the recently released DB28XS Sea Tourbillon on the back of your watch (with a balance wheel in place of the tourbillon, of course!)
The Only Potential Negative: Thickness
Most De Bethune watches are comparatively thin, whereas the Digitale has never been that. However, the floating lugs attached to the previous DB28DN/S version managed to hide its relative thickness.
By changing the lugs to a more traditional style on the new version, this has left the side of the case more exposed and it does look thicker than I would ideally like from some angles. Ironically, this is probably exacerbated by the fact that the 42mm case is considerably smaller than the previous version. I also think that it being all polished doesn’t help and wonder if a brushed finish to the mid-section of the case might help optically.
Pricing and Verdict
The DB25 Digitale is priced at CHF 106,000 and it sits in an interesting category of very high end jump-hour watches.
The main one of these that comes to mind for most collectors will be the Zeitwerk from A. Lange & Söhne, with a retail price starting at EUR 104,000 (including taxes). The Zeitwerk has jumping minutes in addition to the jumping hour and I would argue that if you are considering a Zeitwerk, then you should buy a Zeitwerk (and I certainly wouldn’t argue with you for doing so!)
Other potential competitors could include the Cartier Tank à Guichets, the Audemars Piguet Neo Frame Jumping Hour and the Louis Vuitton Tambour Convergence but none has the quality of finishing found on the Digitale in my eyes.
This leads to comparison with other models within the De Bethune range. The DB28XS Starry Seas currently retails for CHF 77,000 (excluding taxes) and the DB25 Starry Varius range begins at CHF 65,000 (excluding taxes).
The niche nature of the previous version of the Digitale meant that it was unlikely to be the first De Bethune in anyone’s collection. What they have done with the updates to the new DB25 Digitale has totally changed that.
If you can get past the additional thickness over the standard DB25 Starry Varius models, you might conclude that it is actually a combination of the best of both the above-mentioned models. Indeed, if I didn’t already own a DB28XP, I could make a compelling argument for it being the one I would have alongside my Dream Watch 5!
For more information, please visit De Bethune official website.
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