De Bethune: The Art of Watchmaking

Twenty years ago, the haute horological world welcomed De Bethune. Showcasing the technical ingenuity of master watchmaker and co-founder Denis Flageollet, De Bethune immediately established itself as an outlier with a unique ability to blur the lines between traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design, mining history to create a brand both impossibly modern and technically advanced.Flageollet’s objective has always been the glorious and elusive goal of chronometric perfection and no watch brand has been as disruptive as De Bethune. In just twenty years, the company has unveiled thirty in-house movements in the most surprising way, by emphasizing mechanical simplicity and concentrating on the fundamentals of traditional watchmaking. Following this principle, De Bethune has built a collection of pieces with extendable designs capable of evolving over time through innovation and the brand’s research into emerging materials.To maintain that level of excellence, the annual production of De Bethune has remained extremely low, ranging between 150 and 250 watches per year at an average (with price ranges between $45,000 and $300,000)—making it one of the rarest and most exclusive watch brands in the world. By keeping the size of its collection stable, the Swiss-based company has the space to craft the most sophisticated and innovative watches possible and preserve an extraordinarily intimate link with its customers.