De Bethune DB28 Steel Wheels Sapphire Tourbillon
Geneva Watch Days
Geneva Watch Days: The New De Bethune DB28 Steel Wheels Sapphire Tourbillon Is A House Of Mirrors
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the DB28 collection, De Bethune offers a horological playground of transparency and a tourbillon with unprecedented lightness.
By Viviana Shanks
Contributor
The now-iconic De Bethune DB28 has solidified its place as the centerpiece of De Bethune's collections. With the launch of the De Bethune DB28 Kind Of Blue "Milky Way" and the three commemorative De Bethune Ultra-Thin DB28XP pieces, the Sainte-Croix based brand is showing no signs of slowing down. For Geneva Watch Days, the brand launched its lightest tourbillon yet, the De Bethune DB28 Steel Wheels Sapphire Tourbillon.
Space, Time, And Light
Since its founding, De Bethune has mastered the color blue. And the DB28 Steel Wheels Sapphire Tourbillon is no exception. For this edition, De Bethune transformed its delta-shaped bridge into a sapphire bridge, with a touch of its signature De Bethune blue. The transparency of the sapphire gives an unobstructed view to the gears and two barrels. The spotless mirror polish on the dial parallels the polishing of the case, it can take several days to achieve such perfect mirror polishing.
The delta-shaped bridge gives us serious Star Trek vibes, but the new sapphire bridge on the DB28 is not the only reason for this. Indeed, the two barrel bridges have been replaced with a transparent sapphire integrated into the movement. Each sapphire component has been accentuated with a polished titanium border, giving it a powerful presentation with depth and precision.
The sapphire transparency highlights the 272-part caliber DB2019V5 manufacture movement and offers an unprecedented and unique sightline to the architectural lines of the movement and the watch. The DB28 Steel Wheel Sapphire Tourbillon is like a futuristic spaceship, straight out of an unknown galaxy and onto our wrists.
However, the real star on the De Bethune DB28 Steel Wheels Sapphire Tourbillon is the tourbillon. It is the lightest De Bethune has ever made, weighing just 0.18 grams and fashioned out of a remarkable 63 components. The delta-shaped bridge also holds the titanium and silicon made tourbillon in a perfectly symmetrical smile. Plus, the tourbillon cage itself rotates every thirty seconds!
De Bethune DNA
De Bethune has always been incredibly forward-thinking in how the brand creates its timepieces. Even with its futuristic looks, the watch fits seamlessly to the wrist thanks to the patented floating lugs which the brand introduced earlier this year. Unsurprisingly, the unique De Bethune design codes were kept for this 43mm titanium timepiece, resulting in a perfect balance with modern and audacious aesthetics.
It's hard not to be mesmerized by such craftmanship. The watch fits our wrists perfectly, and the mirror polishing makes it hard to stop staring. The indices are also perfectly round, reminiscent of the refined and iconic De Bethune moon. In all honesty, the De Bethune DB28 Steel Wheels Sapphire Tourbillon might just be my favorite release of Geneva Watch Days.
Price and Availability
The De Bethune DB28 Steel Wheels Sapphire Tourbillon is limited to just ten pieces and priced at 195,000 CHF, so don't wait to contact your retailer. This star of Geneva Watch Days is most certainly not going to last long.
(Photography by Pierre Vogel)
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