Introducing The De Bethune DB Kind Of Grande Complication
Being two-faced has never looked so good.
There are many examples over the years of De Bethune’s ability to think outside the box, both technically and aesthetically but one of the best are undoubtedly the Kind Of Two watches. These models have a double sided round case on gimbals inside a pair of articulated “floating” lugs which allow the entire watch to mold itself to the contours of the wrist no matter which face is uppermost.
The name Kind Of Two is a play on words inspired by De Bethune’s Kind Of Blue watches (that name in turn of course was inspired by the classic Miles Davis album of the same name) and previous Kind Of Two watches, like the Kind Of Two Tourbillon and the Kind Of Two Jumping GMT are effective demonstrations of just why the design works so well for De Bethune.
De Bethune, like the Kind Of Two watches, also has two sides. On the one hand there are all the elements of classical watchmaking which inform De Bethune’s designs, as well as the fundamental watchmaking problems which underlie its technical innovations. On the other hand, there is De Bethune as an example of the avant garde side of independent watchmaking. Every independent watchmaker who presents a radically dare-to-be-different design philosophy has to grapple with how to balance the appeal of traditional fine watchmaking values with the appeal of transgressing or enlarging those values and each such brand (I think in no particular order of URWERK, MB&F, and Richard Mille, as three fairly different examples) finds its own way to thread that needle.
De Bethune’s Kind Of Two design allows De Bethune to show off both sides in a single watch quite literally, but of course there is much more to it than that. The Kind Of Two case design also offers a very richly different pair of experiences in a single watch and much more so than is usually true even of other double sided watches (again, in no particular order I think of the Reverso à Triptyque, the Grandmaster Chime, and the Graves Supercomplication all of which, no matter which of the faces you look at, still draw largely from the same design playbook).
The newest Kind Of Two watch is the DB Kind Of Grande Complication, the latest in a long line of perpetual calendars from De Bethune which began in 2004, just two years after the launch of the brand, with the DB15.
The fact that the identity of the watch is split between two sides gives us a very refined, almost conservative take on one side and a very futuristic vision on the other. The watch is as the name “Grande Complication” suggests, extremely complex – a perpetual calendar with day, month, and date indications as well as a spherical moonphase on one side, and on the other, a full view of the De Bethune signature delta-shaped barrel bridge, with the time, deadbeat seconds, age of the Moon indication, power reserve, and visible 30 second tourbillon with De Bethune’s patented titanium and white gold balance visible under a curved bridge.
De Bethune calls the two sides of the watch “contemporary” and “classical” and it’s easy to see why, although the contemporary side has classical qualities, and vice versa.
The classical side shows the calendar indications, as well as the spherical moonphase, against a background of blued titanium. The star field consists of individual white gold pins, representing the stars, and all of the indications – the subdial for the date, the month and day windows, the Leap Year indicator, and the spherical moonphase, seem to be floating freely in the night sky. And, if desired, the star field can be personalized, as with the De Bethune Starry Varius.
The contemporary side is a kind of visual museum of technical watchmaking at De Bethune. The thirty minute high speed tourbillon sits under a domed bridge, with the two staggered mainspring barrels under De Bethune’s delta-shaped barrel bridge, which encloses a blued titanium frame within which the saw-toothed deadbeat seconds wheel can be seen. The De Bethune balance continues the color theme of blue and white metal, with its blued titanium spokes and rim inset with white gold inertial weight.
The design of the balance is intended to provide better precision. The ability of a balance to resist disturbances to its rate has to do with a number of factors, but one of the most important is so-called moment of inertia, which is the ability of a rotating body to resist changes in its rotation. Moment of inertial is a factor of both mass and weight distribution and of the total mass of a balance, the more you can have at the periphery rather than closer to the center, the higher the moment of inertia (this is also the reason most of the mass of a pendulum is in the bob, and not distributed along the length of the pendulum).
In no particular order, the De Bethune innovations and patents present in the Kind Of Grande Complication include the 30 second high speed tourbillon with 36,000 vph balance; the retrograde age of the Moon indication; the high precision spherical moonphase display, the De Bethune balance spring; the deadbeat (jumping) seconds, and of course, the titanium and white gold De Bethune balance as well.
The balance spring is a De Bethune invention as well – it’s equipped with an extra outer coil which offers the same benefits as a Breguet overcoil, but without the additional thickness the latter requires.
A double sided watch gives you a chance to have two different experiences with a single timepiece. That can be something as relatively uncomplicated as a Reverso (which invites you to figure out, if you want to, what to do with that blank space on the back of the case) or as highly complex as the Reverso Grand Complication à Triptyque, where the additional faces (three, in the latter case) allow room for additional displays. What is much rarer – so much so that I struggle to think of an example other than De Bethune – is to make a reversible watch that offers two dramatically different design experiences, while at the same time ensuring that they’re linked by a common aesthetic, and in which each side expresses different but complimentary takes on complicated watchmaking.
The De Bethune DB Kind Of Grande Complication, ref. DBK2TV2: case, polished grade 5 titanium, 43.3mm x 13.85mm. Crown at 12:00 on the front side and 6:00 on the back. Lugs, polished grade 5 titanium floating lugs, 2006 De Bethune patent; sapphire crystals front and back with AR coating; water resistance, 3ATM.
Movement, caliber DB2529, 30mm diameter, running at 36,000 vph in 48 jewels. Titanium balance with white gold inserts (De Bethune patent, 2016) with De Bethune balance spring with flat terminal curve (De Bethune Patent 2006); silicon escape wheel. Ultra light De Bethune 30 second tourbillon in titanium, (De Bethune Innovation, 2008) with deadbeat seconds (De Bethune innovation 2011). Spherical moonphase accurate to one day in 122 years (De Bethune patent, 2004) with retrograde age of the Moon indication (De Bethune Innovation, 2013).
Motion works bridge and concave cover plate in grade 5 titanium; polished and chamfered barrel bridge; blued titanium minute and jumping seconds bridge.
Contemporary display: Hand polished and blued titanium hands for hours, minutes, and jumping seconds; blue polished moon day indicator; polished steel tourbillon seconds hand. End of power reserve indicator and visible De Bethune 30 second tourbillon.
Classical display: Polished yellow gold hour, minute, and date hands; spherical moonphase and leap year indicator both at 3:00; blue day and month disks with gold relief. Dial, blued and polished titanium with hand fitted white gold pins depicting the stars; Milky Way patterns produced by laser micro-milling and gilded with 24 carat gold leaf. Silvered hour and minute ring. Date subdial in blued sandblasted titanium with gold relief at 9:00.
For more, visit DeBethune.com.