De Bethune Presents The DB28xs Yellow Tones, The Latest Installment In The xs Series

De Bethune’s credentials as a maker of some of the most wildly imaginative and technically interesting watches have long since been established, and the sheer variety of watches the company has made, means that there is something of interest for almost anyone, no matter what their interests are. However, if they can be said to have one thing in common overall, it’s generous case dimensions, which De Bethune historically has preferred as a larger canvas for displaying the company’s ingenuity in integrating cutting edge horological innovation with what can plausibly be described as revolutionary watch design.

However, big format watchmaking as a matter of course leaves an opportunity to explore proportions, practical mechanics, and especially in the case of De Bethune, the aesthetics of mechanics, in a smaller format, which is what DB has been doing with the xs series. The xs series – deliberately styled in lower case – debuted in 2023 with the DB28xs Starry Seas, and since then we have seen several further variations on the theme, including the DB28xs Purple Rain, DB28xs Kind of Blue Tourbillon and DB25xs Starry Varius Volcano, and even a chronograph – the DB25Vxs Monopusher Chronograph. The DB28xs Yellow Tones combines an xs-sized case with the aesthetics of the DB28 Yellow Tones, launched in 2019, keeping the very dramatic heat-tempered yellow titanium case and movement, but in a 38.7mm case.

It goes without saying that titanium does not naturally occur in yellow (or purple, or blue, which are the other two colorations of heat tempered titanium used at De Bethune). The color is produced by heating a component – in this instance, the case, movement plate, and mainspring barrel and movement bridges – and allowing an oxide layer to form. Titanium oxidizes readily without being heated at all – in fact, the corrosion resistance of titanium is thanks to the fact that exposed titanium oxidizes almost instantly, and the surface layer of titanium oxide is what prevents any further oxidation; the process is called passivation. However, the surface color can be changed by altering the thickness of the oxide layer, which depending on its thickness can have a wide range of colors (this is the same process by which steel can be heat tempered to blue, purple, brown, or yellow colors as well).

The saturation and tone of the color achieved can be altered to achieve different visual effects, and the yellow tones of the Yellow Tones run the gamut from a light straw color to a deep, almost bronze shade. It takes practice and skill to heat temper steel to a preferred color, but titanium’s more challenging to work with because titanium doesn’t conduct heat very well (this is one of the things that makes machining titanium a challenge; heat built up on the cutting tool tends to stay there rather than partly diffusing through the work piece) so you have to make sure you heat it quite slowly and evenly. The color of yellow tempered titanium doesn’t look much like gold or even rose gold – it has its own unique tone and depth.

Movement finishing is a much-discussed subject these days, but most of the conversation tends to focus on a single approach, which is the traditional Swiss, and Genevan, style: full bridge movements, classic anglage, the use of domed and polished countersinks and jewel settings, Geneva stripes, and so on. Although there have been many examples over the years of non-traditional movement design and finishing, very often this is in the context of complicated watchmaking and in that world, De Bethune is unusual for having a completely unique combination of design and watchmaking innovation in the context of simple, time-only watches.

The movement architecture is built around the two large mainspring barrels, which have a design De Bethune introduced in 2004. Double mainspring barrels can set up to either run in tandem – both barrels unwind at the same time – or in series, where one discharges, and then the other. The former solution’s usually chosen in situations where extra torque is required, usually for some energy hungry complication; the latter offers a longer power reserve, and also more even delivery of torque, for more consistent precision over the power reserve of the watch. De Bethune has historically preferred series-linked mainspring barrels and as a result, DB watches usually have a longer than usual power reserve – in this case, the DB caliber DB2115V14 has a six day power reserve, despite coming in at a classic 30mm in diameter. The mainspring barrels are also jeweled internally – there are six ruby pallets inside each mainspring barrel, which reduce friction between the mainsprings and the barrel interiors. De Bethune watches are spectacular visually but this sort of attention to improving the fundamentals is one of the things that sets the brand apart.

In addition to the self-regulating mainspring barrels, the DB28xs Yellow Tones also used several additional De Bethune patented inventions, including the balance (blued titanium and white gold inertial rim weights) the De Bethune self-centering balance spring (which incorporates an affix on the terminal outer curve which performs the same function as a Breguet overcoil, but without the extra thickness an overcoil requires) and the triple pare-chute antishock system, which gives extra protection agains shocks as well as returning the balance to a neutral position instantly after a physical impact.

You don’t really need to know the nitty-gritty technical details in order to enjoy the watch – just on visual impact alone, the DB28xs Yellow Tones is an experience unique to De Bethune and unlike anything else in modern watchmaking. However, I have always felt that one of the best qualities any watch can have, is to give you even more enjoyment the more you know about it, and as is the case with so many De Bethune watches, the DB28xs Yellow Tones is not only an enormously satisfying watch in its own right, but also a kind of physical connection to some of most important themes in the history of watchmaking.

The De Bethune DB28xs Yellow Tones, refl DB28XSY: case, yellow polished grade 5 titanium, 38.7mm x 8mm; yellow polished grade 5 titanium floating lungs (2006 patent) with sapphire crystals front and back; 30 meter water resistance. Movement, De Bethune caliber DB2115V14, 30mm diameter, running in 36 jewels at 28,800 vph; titanium balance with gold rim weights (2016 patent) De Bethune balance spring (2006) triple pare-chute antishock system (2005) with silicon escape wheel. Yellow titanium barrel bridge with yellow polished titanium dial base; circular satin finished titanium hours and minutes ring with yellow polished titanium hour markers; yellow polished titanium hands.

Price at launch, $115,000. The 1916 Company is proud to be an authorized retailer for De Bethune watches. Contact us for more information and availability.