Wrist Check: The De Bethune DB28XP ‘Kind Of Blue’

The classic playbook for ultra-thin watches design is simple: round, two hands, generally no small seconds and especially no center seconds, and a movement designed to be as thin as possible. The latter generally involves certain concessions to power reserve, accuracy, and durability – a flat balance spring instead of an overcoil, a hanging mainspring barrel, and usually the flattest mainspring you can get away with and still offer a reasonable power reserve (Jaeger-LeCoultre’s caliber 849, for instance, has a 35 hour power reserve). There have been, over the last ten years, some very extreme examples of ultra-thin watchmaking, the most recent example of which was Richard Mille’s RM UP-01, from 2022, which is just 1.75mm thick, and has a rounded rectangular shape that makes it look something like a membership card to a very exclusive private club (which I suppose it is, come to think of it).

BVLGARI has also made a name for itself as a watch brand over the last ten years by basically breaking every record in existence for ultra thin watchmaking, with its Octo Finissimo watches. However, classic ultra-thin watches are usually just that: exercises in classicism, where deviating from the basic formula means running the risk of giving up precious fractions of a millimeter in slimness.

De Bethune does have watches in its history which reflect a classical sensibility, but what made the company stand out from the competition over the last couple of decades, has been its ability to combine unusual and sometimes even radically innovative technical watchmaking, with very unusual designs. You wouldn’t necessarily expect a company known for larger watches, with complex case shapes and a fascination with unique takes on classic complications, to make an ultra-thin watch but De Bethune’s done it more than once, and at this year’s Geneva Watch Days, they launched a new version of the DB28XP. The “XP” stands for “extra plat” – French for “extra flat,” which is more or less synonymous with “ultra thin” and the new DB28XP is the DB28XP Kind Of Blue.

The DB28XP originally came out in 2020, and was released for the 10th anniversary of the DB28 family. The XP model reduced the DB28 to 43mm x 7.2mm, which is about 2mm thinner than the DB28 with spherical moonphase. Part of the reduction in height comes from the omission of the spherical moonphase complication, but some of it is also due to the fact that the construction of the movement is inherently pretty flat to begin with. The DB28XP Kind Of Blue is marginally thicker than the original DB28XP, at 43mm x 8.5mm however, it has a feature that the original did not have, which is a power reserve indication visible through the transparent caseback.

The depth of color in De Bethune’s Kind Of Blue watches is difficult to imagine if you haven’t seen one in the metal – the classic term for describing heat blued steel is “cornflower blue” which is a very true blue tone with little green in it. It’s supposed to have been a shade of blue favored by Jan Vermeer, and the most precious blue sapphires are sometimes described as cornflower blue. Most of us if we see blued metal components in watchmaking, mostly seen them in the form of watch hands or, in some high end watches, in the form of heat blued screws, but I don’t think any brand other than De Bethune has made such extensive use of heat blued titanium in its watches.

Rhapsody in blued titanium

In person the effect is astonishing – blue in nature is already a relatively rare color (leaving aside the sky, which these days is often a lot less cornflower blue than it used to be) and seeing it so concentrated in a single object is actively distracting. The nature of most ultra thin or extra flat watches is to disappear on the wrist, at least to some degree, but the DB28XP Kind Of Blue feels like a watch that deserves more than slipping unobtrusively beneath a cuff and its blue depths can seem almost hallucinatory – like something seen in a vision or a fever dream. The blue is not uniform – instead, depending on the angle and intensity of the light it can seem almost black or almost luminous, not unlike black polished steel. It’s easy to miss at first glance, by the way, but there are accents on both the dial and the movement side that contrast with the overall blue theme – the bezel, for instance, has twelve gold spheres that act as hour markers, and which glow like early stars in the night sky against the deep blue of the bezel.

The back of the watch makes for some interesting viewing as well. The DB28XPS Kind Of Blue has a six day power reserve, which is unheard of in an extra flat watch, and the power reserve indicator looks like it’s been specifically designed to add as little extra thickness to the movement as possible. All of the components lie on the same plane, and I suspect that the slight extra thickness of the Kind Of Blue over the original DB28XPS is mostly due to the addition of the complication – the difference between the two is 1.3mm which seems just about right for what’s visible through the caseback.

Typically with De Bethune, along with your visually mind-blowing aesthetics, you also get a full dose of technical watchmaking and the DB28XPS Kind Of Blue is no different. In particular, you’ve got the De Bethune balance, in titanium with white gold inertial weights, and you also have De Bethune’s unique balance spring with an outer affix which produces the same benefits as a Breguet/Phillips overcoil, while not adding any additional height. You’ve also got De Bethune’s triple pare-chute antishock system, and all of this means a watch which, while very seductive visually, doesn’t give up anything to any of its technical peers at De Bethune or in the larger world of watchmaking (in fact, you’d struggle to find another watch with as much inside in the way of unique technical solutions).

At this point a natural question to ask is whether or not this actually qualifies as an ultra thin or extra flat watch; especially in a world where brands like BVLGARI and Richard Mille have pushed ultra thin watchmaking to the point that we’ve got mechanical watches as thin or thinner than what would have been, not that long ago, considered ultra thin movements.

How flat is extra flat?

I think De Bethune gets a pass here. The DB28XPS Kind Of Blue, bear in mind, is an unusual extra flat watch in a lot of ways; first of all there’s the long power reserve (most classic ultra thin watches have about half the power reserve of the DB28XPS Kind Of Blue) and then there is the power reserve indication itself. A watch with a six day power reserve is generally quite a bit thicker than 8.5mm and when you add in the power reserve complication, as well as the extra height from the triple pare-chute antishock system you get a watch that is in fact quite thin for everything that’s packed in under the hood.

And it’s beautiful. Definitions aside (the official defintion of an extra flat watch from the Berner Horological Dictionary is “one which is extremely flat” which leaves, let’s be honest, a lot of wiggle room) it’s a watch that feels slim and elegant on the wrist and gives you a visual and tactile experience unlike anything else in watchmaking. And in a world full of homage watches and me-t00 versions of stainless steel sports watches with integrated bracelets, a timepiece that really does know its own mind is worth more than ever.

The DB28XP Kind Of Blue: Case, 43mm x 8.5mm, blued grade 5 titanium with Microlight case middle and De Bethune floating lugs; sapphire crystal with double AR coating and transparent caseback; water resistance, 30 meters. Movement, caliber DB2115v12, hand wound, with power reserve display visible through the caseback; titanium balance with white gold inserts and De Bethune patented balance spring with flat terminal curve. Escape wheel in silicon; triple pare-chute antishock system; running in 36 jewels at 28,800 vph. Limited edition of 25 pieces world wide; price, $125,000. For more information, visit De Bethune, and check out our collection of certified pre-owned De Bethune timepieces here at The 1916 Company.