De Bethune - Excellence From Inception

Before De Bethune, there was De Bethune. And during the early days, De Bethune used third party movements before developing and releasing the DB15.

Right off the bat, the folks at De Bethune understood the philosophy of quality. What makes a timepiece desirable? Well as far as I know, they feel a timepiece has to be accurate and the finishing top notch. At first glance, one will know the work done and the class of a well finished timepiece. Such is the earlier series of DB timepieces. I was lucky to see the original DB8 mono pusher chronograph belonging to a friend and I fell in love with the earlier DB series. And it is a lot more within budget too!

The beautifully executed guilloché dials of the earlier DBs are just absolutely mesmerising. The DB8 comes with a third party movement and a closed case back. I understand the movement was from the days when Denis Flageollet was at Techniques Horlogerès Appliquées (THA).

I had asked Alessandro Zanetta (Marketing Director of DB) why the earlier pieces were closed case back and he had said that this was probably because they were third party movements and the only time De Bethune will come with a see-through case back is when they had developed their own in-house movement. Kudos to the folks at De Bethune. Slight digression… Another beautiful look at the guilloché dial of the DB8. Stunning!

So why 45 minute counter and not a full 60 minutes? Well some speculate that Denis is a big soccer fan so the 45 minute counter is for one half of a soccer match. True?

Even in the early years, the signature tear-drop lugs were already a design feature. And the blued hands are so well made they are to-die-for. The blue hue complements the arabic numerals.

So impressed I was with the DB8, I started searching for an early model DB. And as luck would have it, I managed to snag a DB9 which is the Power Reserve. Seen here beside the DB8.

As I understand it, the DB9 comes with another third party movement - the Jaquet J4000 movement with a 7 days power reserve (168 hours) and a power reserve display. De Bethune DB9 comes with a white gold polished moon on a blue disk which moves from the maximum (right side) to the minimum power reserve. I originally thought the moon was a moon phase but quickly learnt that is it De Bethune’s way of displaying the power reserve - novel!

This watch is encased in a 42mm white gold case and the guilloché dial is again very well made. A simple two handed manual winding timepiece.

Again, the blued hands are outstanding and the dial work is flawless. The large dial is a gold silver plated dial with blue arabic numerals.

According to their marketing materials, the modified movement is decorated with the Cotes de Geneve pattern and is hand polished. I trust they do good work there looking at their in-house pieces. They have inserted an up and down mechanism to the base calibre for the power reserve indication. The crown is octagonal in shape. Their attention to detail is the hallmark of a De Bethune timepiece.

There is something about the way the folks at DB does the blue - I simply love the blue hue they are able to develop. The DB9 is my first De Bethune but I hope it will not be my last. So the search continues for more De Bethune timepieces that are within reach.

Another Year End Get-Together - Xi Yan Shaw

It is the year ending get-together again and this time around, we hosted it at Xi Yan Shaw - the casual dining restaurant of their private dining sister restaurant in Craig Road. And the theme? Grand Seiko or any Seiko as well as any purchase in 2014.

Xi Yan Shaw is a spin off of the successful Xi Yan Private dining featuring Hong Kong Celebrity Chef Jacky Yu. The restaurant at Shaw Centre is located on the 3rd level and spacious enough to host probably 50-60 pax.

Unlike in the private dining restaurant, this is an open concept casual dining place.

The theme was around Grand Seiko, Seiko and purchases for 2014 so I brought these - my Grand Seiko SBGM003 and my purchase for 2014 being the De Bethune DB9. What about the Parmigiani? Well another friend had recently acquired a similar piece and I promised to let him do a comparison.

6.30pm was when the folks started strolling in and by 6.45pm, quite a group had already assembled.

And by 7pm?

Then the food started rolling in… First up the Salivating Chicken. As I have told many friends, prior to this dish, I never liked century egg - this dish changed it all. Depending on how hot you want it, they can increase the hotness of the dish. Take a bite at the chili padi if you like.

Pork patty with salted fish and water chestnut. Pan fried just nice and the salted fish not over-powering. Sorry I had missed the photo of the radish pizza in XO sauce. Busy mingling.

Deep fried shrimp paste fish fillet with pomelo salad - another winning dish for me. The fish fillet was well fried and still soft on the inside. But actually could not recall the shrimp paste taste. But that is actually a plus for me. To return and try it again another day. But the pomelo sauce complemented the fish well.

This is perhaps the most sinful dish of the night - Sake Dong Po pork with mei cai (seasoned vegetables). The pork is braised till soft to the bite and the mei cai is not the salty type - rather it is slightly sweet. Perfect with a bowl of rice or porridge. So good was the pork I missed taking picture of the next dish - the Yunnan Ham Niang Dou Fu in special broth. This is another must-have dish when visiting Xi Yan Shaw.

More dishes like the Kai Lan with Crispy Olive Leaves, Black truffles pasta with roast chicken - but by then, I was fully into the food. No pix to show for. Except for the last dish - the black truffles fried rice.

And how good was the food? Well everyone was tucking in. You sneeze you lose. You come late… sorry!

And very soon, it was time to display the timepieces for the evening. Seen here are Prof Harry Tan and Sean Wai - custodians of the timepieces on show.

On the left table, Grand Seikos and Seikos on display. And on the right, 2014 purchases.

The Grand Seikos and Seikos are an interesting lot - many anniversary pieces on display. Take a look at the top row. The GS SBMG003 and the various variants including two blue dial Limited Editions. Bottom right features two LE Tunas and one LE Monster, all anniversary pieces. And the bottom left, the LE Enamel dial Seiko Anniversary piece.

And now to the purchases of 2014 - one De Bethune, 2 Parmigianis, one Speake Marin, two MoVas (Bronze Diver and the T2 Tourbillon), one AP Royal Oak ultra-thin, one Jurgensen and JLC, Swatch Sistem 51 and Rolex GMT II make up the rest. No prize for guessing who brought the IWC pocket watch along. And then there is the Sony smart watch 3.

And very year end GTG, we have a special treat. Harry brought the fruit cake baked by Suzanne. Nicely made and delicious too.

Another nice GTG to round off the year. Thanks guys for showing up early! CNY coming up next!

De Bethune wins the GPHG Award for DB29 Maxichrono Tourbillon

If I had not said this before, I say it again. De Bethune is about one of my favourite brands and deservedly, they won at the GPHG 2014 for their DB29 Maxichrono Tourbillon.

This past week, the folks from De Bethune brought an impressive selection of their timepieces and showcased it at The Hour Glass L'Atelier at Ion. Amongst them was the award winning DB29 Maxichrono Tourbillon. Pierre and Alessandro were at hand to meet the collectors on this occasion. In the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix (GPHG) 2014, the international and highly qualified jury of this 14th edition chose the DB29 Maxichrono Tourbillon to receive the prestigious award of the best chronograph of the year.

Not only is this timepiece a monopusher chronograph, it also comes with a tourbillon and encased with a hunter case. This is one of my Dream Watches... if only I can afford it. On display were also come very technically sophisticated pieces like the DB28ST. The manual winding dead-beat seconds tourbillon timepiece is a sight to behold. Finished to the highest quality, my picture does no justice to the timepiece.

Equally sophisticated is the DB28 Maxichrono. Beautifully crafted and finished as one would expect from the folks in De Bethune.

The movement on the reverse tells you how much work goes into the design and manufacture of the pieces at DB.

De Bethune is also famous for their perpetual calendar pieces - the three dimensional moon being the attraction to me. And the highly guilloche dials are also a beauty. Here is the DB16QP.

And the manual winding movement of the DB16QP.

And speaking of the three dimensional moon phase, the DB25L white grey dial is also on my list of dream watch - but perhaps a little more reachable.

And the open case at the back displaying the beautifully crafted movement.

The folks at De Bethune have this salmon colored dial that I absolutely love. This is Alessandro's piece he was wearing and he told me it is his favourite piece (at least for now) and he has been wearing it for months. You can see why right?

Also showcased at the event was two very elegantly designed enamel inspired dial DB25s. The first piece has blued mirror-polished titanium at the centre and an outer white enamel like ring.

The second version has blued mirror-polished titanium outer ring with a white core. Classic right down to the hands and I believe De Bethune has outdone the folks at Breguet in this respect. The timepiece comes with an automatic movement.

For a classic De Bethune, this is a winner for me.

There were a lot more timepieces there but I was so busy chatting away I did not have enough time to capture them all. We had a good chat and one of the questions stumped Alessandro, seen here trying to look for answers.

Thanks to The Hour Glass, Pierre Jacques and Alessandro Zanetta for hosting us. One day... one day, I shall have my very own DB. Congrats again to De Bethune on the win. Thoroughly deserved!

De Bethune DB9 - Simply Classic

A "modern" De Bethune timepiece is a watch I would really like to own one day. Another "Dream" watch on my list.

For now, I can afford the DB9 and I am loving it. 7 days power reserve to moot.

I am doing some research on the earlier pieces before their debut of the DB15 with their in-house movement and three dimensional moon. Stay tuned.

De Bethune - My New Hero

De Bethune is a brand I am new to and the more I learn about the brand, the more I am liking it. Recently, The Hourglass hosted a luncheon to introduce the DB28 Digitale and the Dream Watch 5.

But I was busy busy busy and therefore had no time to post about the event. Only now having returned from a long trip do I have time to sit down and enjoy my hobby again. The lunch was hosted at Garibaldis and a rather small group of collectors and press. Here, is Pierre Jacques with Jim and Timmy with Prof Harry Tan in the background.

And while we were waiting for lunch to start and admire the new releases, I had the chance to admire someone's first generation De Bethune DB8 mono pusher chrono. The signature tear-drop lugs of De Bethune. 45 minute counter at six with the centre sweeping seconds. Beautifully finished - another feature of the brand.

And when the lunch started, the watches were rotated around the table. Appearing in front of me was the perpetual calendars.

The trio was mesmerizing and I love the way De Bethune does the perpetual calendars. Only a few brands display them the way they do - using windows instead of sub-dials. I find the windows easier to read whereas sub-dials if not properly done crowds the entire dial.

First the DB16QP. This is the rose gold version of the perpetual calendar. Very legible and beautifully crafted. Another signature of the brand is the three dimensional moon at twelve.

And the open case back displaying the calibre DB2509 manual winding movement with a 4 day power reserve. The boomerang bridge is another signature of the brand.

And a special Limited Edition salmon dial version of the DB25QP.

A closer look at the salmon dial version. According to Pierre, salmon dials will only be used for their platinum series and will be limited.

The timepiece comes with an automatic Calibre DB 2324QP with 5 days power reserve. And for a watch that is 44mm, it wears comfortably as the lugs are another special feature of De Bethune.

And now, the pièce de résistance… The DB29 mono pusher chronograph tourbillon. The mono pusher chrono has a centre display - very unusual and definitely more complicated to make. And then to add a tourbillon? Well if this is not complicated, I don't know what is.

The timepiece comes with a hunter case. The tourbillon is featured at the back. As with all DB timepieces, they are immaculately finished.

The dial features a 24 hours chrono indicator, 60 minute counter and also a 60 seconds counter. The minutes hand indicator is a rose gold hand but I had not activated the chrono function and therefore it is hidden behind the blue seconds hand.

Then the feature of the event - the DB28 Digitale. Another unusual display - a digital hour indicator at twelve and a three dimensional moon at the centre. The minute indicator is a revolving disc. The dial is a hand-guilloché barleycorn motif - flawless in my opinion. Crown is found at the twelve.

A closer look at the window between nine and three features a blue sky depiction complete with stars. The moon is right at the centre with a two hemisphere three dimensional moon - one in palladium and the other flame-blued steel.

The back features the Calibre DB 2144 which is a manual winding in-house movement featuring a 5 day power reserve. The level of finishing it outstanding - I have come to expect nothing less from De Bethune.

The Dream Watch 5 was also unveiled but due to the conditions in the restaurant, I was not able to take a decent shot. Not that these are good shots but under the circumstances and with a point and shoot, that's the best I could muster.

The Dream Watch series brings horology to a different level - reinterpretation of what horology is to De Bethune with a twist of art. With DW 5, the artistic side of De Bethune comes alive in their creation playing with shapes and complications. For more information, please visit www.debethune.ch.

For me, the DB29 Maxichrono was the highlight, not that I can afford it. Pricing is always an issue when it comes to De Bethune. Definitely out of my reach. But I still hope - hope that one day I will own a De Bethune. In the meantime, I continue to dream that someone out there might be kind enough to present me one as a gift. Wishful thinking but then again, who knows.

Thanks to The Hourglass for hosting the event.