Presenting the Twenty-8-Eight Skeleton Tourbillon of DeWitt at Only Watch

For its fourth participation to Only Watch, after 2005, 2007 and 2011, one would have thought that the DeWitt brand would come up with a unique watch based on the X-Watch, a concentrate of watchmaking complexity imposingly embodying a whole living window with its micromechanical know-how. However, it opted for a surprise watch sprinkled with diamonds, a glamorously set face nevertheless passing on one of its cornerstone messages: its true manufacturing dimension, such as the famous DW8028 calibre, the first in-house movement to appear in 2010.

It is this movement, together with its 185 components, which equip the piece offered to Monaco. Here, reference is being made to a manual winding motor with 18’000 vibrations per hour, equipped with a 72 hours power reserve, a variable-inertia balance, a Straumann® balance-spring with Phillips curves sequenced at 2,5 Hz.

Carats as a lifeline

At this charity event under the patronage of His Serene Highness Sovereign Prince Albert II, the brand shares its aesthetic values through the particular design of its Napoleonic ancestry case, made of 48 imperial columns. For the occasion, it was manufactured in 18 carats white gold with a 43 mm diameter for a 10.78 mm width. Water resistant to 30 meters, it is equipped with a proportional seat prone to comfort, on redesigned horns as well as on the popular “encolonnades”, so characteristic of the DeWitt style. In mesh with the objective of the charity auction, that is to gather a sum of money in favor of research against the Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a particular value has been assigned to the watch: approximately 3.7 carats worth of diamonds are the decoration of this Haute Horlogerie piece, that is, 36 baguette-cut diamonds plus 96 brilliant-cut diamonds.

Its flange also contains 8 brilliant-cut diamonds, which highlight the hours’ index.

Skeleton, a revelation of the inside

Non-conforming to the current trends, the Twenty-8-Eight Skeleton Tourbillon is in no way a timid. It fully assumes the skeleton work of a movement that proudly enjoys this competition for the ultra-platitude or the ultra-lightness which rules in the vicinity. The collateral damage of such a course ultimately disappoints to some extent since the piece, empty of material, ends up being fragile as well as devoid of robustness. With DeWitt, it is rather an architectural aesthetic; the base is a pierced sand nickel silver plate, with black gold finishes, to which are attached many curves and circles crossed by straights. It is some sort of urban course, which plays with depths, perspectives, overlaps and different levels. At the bend of an interlacing, the logo “W” at the 9 o’clock position is stamped without hesitation as a mark on the inferior side of the watch. It exudes robustness as well as delicacy and subtleness.

At the 12 o’clock position, the barrel has also been subject to skeleton work so that the motor’s heart may be visible.

Its shape reminds one of the steering wheel of a car of vintage collection while its drum slowly turns as its energy spring gradually uncoils. One of these dream and collector cars, often present in Monaco, matches with the Principality’s image.