Description

This new version of the DB25QP was launched in 2022 at Geneva Watch Days.
Launched in 2011, the DB25QP marries the sophisticated technicality of a perpetual calendar with the beauty of a 3D moon phase rotating in a signature blue De Bethune sky. The latest DB25 comes in a more compact 40mm titanium case and flaunts a two-tone silver and blue guilloché dial.

The silvery central area of the dial displays an elegant 12-sector hand-guilloché pattern emanating from the centre. In contrast, the date ring with silvered Arabic numerals and the ring framing the phases of the moon are blue and applied to the guilloché background. The chapter ring is also blue and displays large silver-toned Roman numerals in relief and a peripheral minutes track. In addition to the different textures of the dial, the three rings (date, moon phase and chapter ring) are rounded. The raised chapter ring means that the minute hand has to have a slight curve at its tip to travel over the curved surface. The hour, minute and date hands are steel and mirror-polished by hand.

Represented by a palladium and blued steel sphere and accompanied by nine inlaid rose gold stars, the 3D moon performs its cycles and is accurate to one lunar day every 122 years. Just beneath the moon is the aperture for the leap year indication.

The movement exposed on the reverse side reveals the more contemporary face of De Bethune with the starry pattern on the three-quarter plate that is sandblasted and snailed by hand and the blued titanium balance bridge and oscillating weight arm. As an improved version of the calibre DB2324, the new (V2) calibre has been technically adapted to fit inside the 40mm case, and the diameter reduced from 35 to 30mm. Packed with De Bethune patents and innovations, the automatic movement has 423 parts, 47 jewels and sophisticated hand finishings, including hand-bevelled and hand-polished steel parts. Powered by a titanium and white gold rotor, the self-regulating double barrel delivers a robust 5-day power reserve. The diameter of De Bethune titanium balance has been reduced in size and is regulated by small white gold weights. The balance spring, also a De Bethune innovation, has a flat terminal curve, and the escape wheel is made of silicon.