In every new creation by De Bethune, the company’s founders, David Zanetta and Denis Flageollet perform a balancing act. It involves recombining age-old expertise and the styles of the Age of Enlightenment in a contemporary creation of new materials and technical innovations. By imagining what the great watchmakers of the 18th century would have made today, they lay the foundations of tomorrow’s watchmaking. They dismantle preconceptions to extend the frontiers of knowledge. They discover and explore the new horizons of science and technology, yet return to the mechanical and artistic essentials. 

The construction and the aesthetic of the DB28 Maxichrono proudly illustrate the simplicity of the initial approach adopted by the brand founders. 

Creating an accurate and readable chronograph within the confined space of a wristwatch: such was the leitmotif that drove seven years of research and development. 

Showcasing extreme dial clarity and ultra-legible chronograph indications by means of its five central hands, this innovative chronograph is also equipped with a high-frequency calibre featuring optimised chronometric precision applied to the measurement of long periods of time. The single pusher at 12 o’clock preserves the comfortable design of the DB28 collection’s characteristic case. 

Stemming from an unusual combination between the round shapes of the case and the fine, flexible lines of the lugs*, together with the association of materials such as hand-polished titanium on the case and lugs, along with polished and blued steel**, this compendium of innovations and patents subtly mingles classicism and modernity in terms of its design as well as its technical construction. 

A mono-pusher chronograph with 5 central hands 

This chronograph owes its dial architecture, built around give central hands, to a deliberate desire to improve on the aesthetic and functional readability of traditional chronographs, which is often impaired by the presence of small counters. The curves of the distinctively profiled hands closely follow the rounded contours of the silver-toned dial. 

The present time is read off by means of openworked indicators in polished and blued steel** featuring a contemporary design. Each hand points to blue numerals in a modern font, of which the distinctive character is accentuated by their volumes and colours. 

Meanwhile, elapsed time is measured in a more traditional manner by means of blued steel** hands for the hours and seconds, and pink gold for the minutes. Numbering inspired by marine chronometers facilitates the classic reading of the chronograph indications. 

The DB28 Maxichrono is above all a contemporary chronograph featuring a mono-pusher/12 o’clock crown tandem that controls the central hands remarkably mounted on the same axis according to vertical sequence of nested gear trains and pillars representing an impressive technical feat! 

Measuring long periods of time: 23 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds 

This instrument designed for measuring long periods of time is equipped with 60-unit seconds and minutes chronograph indications, and a 24-hour display based on a concentric system. 

Chronometric precision: Calibre DB2039 

=> Silicon/white gold annular balance 

The frequency of this in-house balance wheel is well suited to wristwatches, which are subject to abrupt wrist movements. 

=> 3 column wheels 

The back of the watch, providing a window on the movement, features a pared-down, architectural arrangement of the hand-polished bridges of Calibre 2030, in which the complex mechanism of an innovative chronometric system is notably distinguished by its three column wheels. 

=> The De Bethune absolute clutch 

De Bethune total clutch system: a patented chronograph invention. 

De Bethune’s research and development department has announced the filing of a patent application n° CH00076/14 for the chronograph mechanism. De Bethune’s absolute clutch aims to improve the performance of chronographs by correcting the faults identified in current mechanisms. 

This mechanism makes the most of the advantages of the horizontal and vertical clutch systems while eliminating their faults. It thus benefits from a marked reduction in the friction that affects the movement both when the chronograph is running and when it is functioning without the chronograph engaged. 

The absolute clutch operates in a system engaging the two traditional clutch methods to allow the different chronograph counters to function semi-autonomously: 

- The chronograph seconds are governed by the new absolute clutch system; 

- The minutes counter is controlled by a shifting pinion; 

- The hours counter is engaged by a horizontal clutch. 

Three different types of clutch behind three semi-independent systems controlled by three column-wheels thus govern the different chronograph elapsed-time counters. 

In this way De Bethune marks a significant technological breakthrough in the history of chronographs, the result of continuous research heralded by the DB21 Maxichrono in 2006. Constant innovation relying on an extensive knowledge of age-old expertise has enabled the brand to simplify and enhance the reliability of the absolute clutch system so that it can be implemented in a movement manufactured by the production workshops in the Swiss village of L’Auberson.