Home » The Salon International De La Haute Horlogerie » A Concave Starry Face of the Futuristic timepiece – De Bethune DB 28 Skybridge
Another magnificent piece with the appearance inspired by the infinity of the night sky comes from the Swiss watchmaker De Bethune. It is DB 28 Skybridge piece with an astounding blue star-studded concave face with a prominent bridge made in a futuristic design, as it is the case with the pieces from the series. The dial has a prominent moon phase display expressed with a use of a three-dimensional sphere which is also a motif quite commonly seen in the recent models. Supplied with a beautifully and meticulously finished manufactory hand-wound movement visible from the back, the watch makes use of high grade materials such as titanium and implements five brand’s registered patents in its construction. Unveiled at the SIHH 2013 event, the timepiece by De Bethune has the price tag of around $108,000.
De Bethune DB 28 Skybridge Watch
DB 28 Skybridge sports a magnificently crafted dial that plays tricks on the perception once you look at it. The concave shape of the face with the basis made from blued grade 5 curved titanium is sprinkled with diamonds and white gold bit in order to resemble a night sky. Its seductiveness is rounded with the addition of the spheres that appear to be suspended in space and serve as the hour markers. At the center of the face lays the trait that gives the name to the piece – an arrow shaped bridge. As the representatives of the firm headed by David Zanetta and Denis Flageollet explain, the bridge is meant to appear as if it is pointing towards infinity. De Bethune DB 28 Skybridge watch likewise includes flame-blued and mirror polished steel hands which circle the dial which has a minute track on the edge for improved readability. Overall, the piece displays the futuristic design which is predominant for the models from the DB 28 series (as it is, for example the basic DB 28 watch which we have written about some time ago). On the other hand, its starry face looks a bit like DB 25 Special Edition, the timekeeper De Bethune made for the Only Watch auction in 2011.
De Bethune DB 28 Skybridge Watch – Arrow Bridge
De Bethune DB 28 Skybridge Watch – Diamonds
Mirror polish finishing is omnipresent and visible on various components of the watch: its dial, hands, and spherical moon phase indication. The watch furthermore has this sort of finish on its ultra-light titanium case. The diameter of the housing is 43 mm, while the width of the titanium bezel measures to 45 mm. Despite the prevailing futuristic components, the design of the watch does have a feature borrowed from pocket watches from the olden days. It sports a round shaped casing and more importantly, a crown at the very top of the case. All of the decorations of the dial are executed by artisans from the brand’s workshops in the Swiss village of L’Auberson.
De Bethune DB 28 Skybridge Watch – Titanium Bezel
Inside the titanium housing of Skybridge piece beats manually-wound DB 2105 mechanical movement packed with the watchmaker’s innovations. It is armed with a self-regulating twin barrel which ensures a power reserve of six days. Other novelties are a balance wheel made from the combination of silicon and palladium and with a balance spring with a flat and a curve, as well as a silicon escape wheel and a triple pare-chute system used to enhance the resistance. The in-house caliber integrates 27 jewels and 236 parts overall, while its frequency is 4 Hz. The intricacy of the caliber is complemented with lavish hand finishing. Quite unsurprisingly, its steel components are blued and completely mirror-polished.
Another charming visual trait of the watch is the presence of its suspended skeleton lugs, specially designed by the brand’s artisans. The lovely lugs separate the case with a black extra-supple alligator leather wristlet which fastens with a pin buckle. As it has been mentioned, the price of Skybridge timekeeper is expressed in six figures and is approximately $108,000.
