Up Close and Personal with the Splendid De Bethune DB25 Digitale

De Bethune is, without a doubt, one of my favourite independent watchmakers. And I’m not the only one on the MONO team who feels this way. I love the bold, futuristic design paired with incredible refinement, the almost philosophical approach of Denis Flageollet, the experimental work done on materials, the astronomical inspirations, and the sheer respect the man has for traditional, historical watchmaking. De Bethune has a depth that needs to be explored. I have seen and experienced many DB models, up to the incredible LV x DB Louis Varius Project, and yet my favourite watch, after all these years, remains the DB28 Digitale. That was until recently, when the DB25 Digitale landed. 

The story of the De Bethune Digitale is that of the brand’s take on the jumping hour complication. It all started back in 2006, with the launch of the DBD (De Bethune Digitale), a watch that paired a hugely singular design with an antique display, including a linear calendar indication (day-date-month) and, of course, jumping hours and dragging minutes. The concept came back as “Season 2” in 2023. The concept was fully updated in 2014, with the launch of the De Bethune DB28 Digitale, introducing an entirely revamped jumping-hour display with the signature spherical moon-phase indication in the centre. I vividly remember seeing the watch back at Baselworld 2014 and immediately falling in love with it. 12 years later, my feelings have not changed. The combination of the guilloché dial, the perfectly legible jumping hour display, the contrast offered by the contemporary DB28 case with floating lugs… It is a watch that never left my dream list (at this point, it’s not even a wish list anymore…)

That was until September this year, when DB launched the DB25 Digitale. Same overall concept, same base movement, slightly different execution and display, updated case design… True, unquestionable “love at first sight” effect. Indeed, as you can imagine, the rest of this article is not going to be objective. I’ll try my best, but with this watch on my wrist, I become rather uncontrollable.

The move to the DB25 platform

Following in the footsteps of the DBD, one of the brand’s most emblematic and recognisable models, and the DB28 Digitale, my previous favourite DB model, the DB25 Digitale revisits the jumping hour display with the watchmaker’s current design codes. And it starts with a shift from the DB28 to the DB25 platform. A change that isn’t negligible. The original DBD was a UFO, even within the brand’s catalogue. It had its own asymmetrical case design and a plain dial with Geneva stripes and small apertures for the digital indications. The next Digitale model changed everything, starting with the case, using the DB28 and its floating lugs. A hugely singular shape, one that should have felt great on my wrist, but this was maybe the only marginal complaint I had with the DB28 Digitale. Indeed, I’ve always been more of a DB25 guy, for its sleeker, more refined approach to Denis Flageollet’s universe.

With the De Bethune DB25 Digitale released earlier this year, the design has been updated to now feature the shorter, fixed and openworked lugs of the DB25 platform. The case, as often with the brand, is made of polished grade 5 titanium and measures 42mm in diameter, with a reasonable height of just under 12mm. And while it remains a rather sizeable watch, especially considering the brand’s latest releases such as the DB25XS or DB28XS, it also marks a considerable reduction in size compared to the 45mm case of the DB28. Having small wrists of about 16.5cm, I can only confirm that the new DB25 Digitale feels more natural to wear, more compact while retaining some presence. Thankfully, the lugs are short and, in the end, this watch is a statement piece, not a tuxedo-style dress watch. I could live with a 40mm case, but it might be challenging considering the size of the display.

A dial about contrasts and concentric rings

On to the dial, and while the technical platform is virtually unchanged (save for some marginal updates), the look of the watch has changed quite drastically. The DB28 Digitale was dominated by its arched silvered guilloche dial, with the jumping hours and minutes disc positioned at the top. The DB25 Digitale, at least to me, brings a more complex, more detailed dial that, surprisingly, feels more balanced and more natural. First, while the jumping hour window and moon indication have not changed position, the minute disc is now read through an arched aperture at 6 o’clock, giving the watch more symmetry and a more natural reading of the time – your eyes first catch the hours, and move down to the minutes.

Then, as said, there’s much more dynamism to this dial than before. What I loved about the DB28 Digitale was its asymmetry, its purity. And, surprisingly, the DB25 Digitale is its total opposite, and yet appears even more appealing to me. This watch is all about concentric rings and contrasts between blued and silvered elements. Starting from the centre, the palladium and flame-blued steel spherical moon is framed by a blued titanium disc, set with grey-gold stars. It is itself framed by a polished titanium ring that includes the frame for the hour window. Next is a now-classic DB element, a randomly guilloché plate in blued titanium, with a wave-like pattern – a design created in 2023 and seen in multiple other recent models.

This delicate element is then framed by a silvered ring with a hand-guilloché barleycorn motif, which creates a continuous concentric ring thanks to the new position of the arched opening for the minutes. The final element of the dial is a blued titanium ring, again set with grey-gold stars… And yet, one last concentric ring can be seen on the polished bezel. The result, from a certain distance, is not only a highly graphic design but also a layout that creates a focal point towards the spherical moon… Pretty spectacular. 82 elements are necessary to create this imagery of a nocturnal scene beneath the stars, and a fascinating contrast between the classical style of the barleycorn motif and the distinctly contemporary expression of the random guilloché.

3rd-gen Calibre DB2144

This multifaceted display – digital for the jumping hours, analogue for the minutes, spherical for the moon phase – requires a sophisticated movement, where a micro ball-bearing system drives both the jumping-hour display and the rotating minute disc. Inside the case is the 3rd generation of the calibre DB2144, the same base that was used in the DB28 Digitale. This hand-wound, in-house calibre relies on several of the brand’s innovations and patents, such as the titanium balance wheel with grey-gold inserts (2004 patent) optimised for temperature variations and aerodynamic efficiency (2016 innovation), the “De Bethune” balance spring with flat terminal curve (invented in 2004, De Bethune design registration 2006), a silicon escape wheel (2005), the central spherical moon-phase indication, accurate to within one lunar day every 1,112 years (2004 patent), and finally the blued triple pare-chute shock-absorbing system (2005).

Powered by a self-regulating twin-barrel system and running at a 4Hz frequency, the Calibre DB2144V3 delivers a solid 5-day power reserve, despite the complex, energy-consuming display on top. The decoration is, as you’d expect from DB, quite impressive and very distinctive. It includes a concave titanium mainplate, the signature “deltoid” titanium barrel bridge, hand-bevelled and hand-polished and, for the first time, featuring the random guilloché motif on a blued titanium plate.

Availability & Price

The De Bethune DB25 Digitale, worn on a supple alligator leather strap, joins the brand’s permanent collection. It is priced at CHF 106,000 excluding taxes. For the record, the DB28 Digitale was priced at CHF 95,000 excl. taxes in 2014… It seems that inflation has not affected DB as much as other brands. All things considered, this is, of course, a vast amount of money. As perfect as the DB25 Digitale is, in my eyes at least, and as gifted as I can be in life, I can only dream about it… Do I care? No. I also dream of owning a Ferrari F40. And I’ve been lucky enough to have a ride once as a passenger, and I’ve had the chance to wear the new Digitale for some time. And yes, that’s enough… I’ll keep on dreaming about what I consider to be one of the most fascinating watches of this year.

For more details, please visit debethune.ch.