De Bethune watches: a collecting guide

In a remote corner of Switzerland, nestled amongst the Jura Mountains, is the picturesque village of L’Auberson.

Once a renowned centre for the production of exquisite clockwork automata, today it’s famous as the home of De Bethune — a watchmaker reviving local skills to create modern mechanical marvels.

‘De Bethune represents the pinnacle of modern watchmaking, with technical mastery and daring designs,’ says Remi Guillemin, Christie’s head of Watches & Wristwatches, Europe and Americas. ‘They are also spearheading the recent surge in interest in independent watch manufacturers — small businesses striking out and making their own mark on the industry with brilliant timepieces produced in small editions.’

On 12 May 2025, as part of Rare Watches, Featuring Stories in Time: A Collection of Exceptional Watches, Christie’s in Geneva is offering 16 De Bethune watches from a single-owner collection. Ahead of the sale, Guillemin provides an introduction to the groundbreaking manufacturer.

The origins

The man behind De Bethune’s vision is its co-founder and master watchmaker, Denis Flageollet, the fourth generation of a French watchmaking dynasty.

After studying watchmaking in Switzerland, he became an antique clock restorer at the Musée d’Horlogerie du Locle. In 1982, he joined the workshop of horology master Michel Parmigiani, where he honed his skills by restoring classic watches, before developing a new, extra-thin perpetual-calendar movement for Breguet.

In 1989, Flageollet co-founded a high-end company called Technique Horlogère Appliquée (THA) with a group of young watchmakers that included Vianney Halter and François Paul Journe, making complicated movements for Breguet, Cartier, Franck Muller and Bucherer.

Although THA is now legendary as an incubator for several of the independent watch industry’s biggest names, Flageollet found it stifling and bureaucratic, and he left in 2001. Shortly after, he received a proposal from David Zanetta, a well-known expert, dealer and collector of fine watches: did he want to join him in establishing a new watch brand that simultaneously paid homage to the past while striding into the future?

De Bethune’s founding

On 22 April 2002, Zanetta and Flageollet founded De Bethune, named after the Chevalier de Béthune, an 18th-century nobleman and designer of a revolutionary watch escapement component.

Incredibly, after just two years of research and development, the business began filing patents. The first was for a revolutionary type of balance wheel and hairspring, which was constructed from titanium and platinum. Its flat terminal curve served to maintain a perfect centre of gravity inside a watch’s movement, and it was celebrated as one of the greatest leaps forward in watchmaking since the invention of the Breguet hairspring in 1795.

Within a matter of days, a second patent was filed for a spherical moon-phase dial. At the same time, De Bethune also became the first watchmaker to utilise the natural oxidation of titanium to create a cobalt-blue dial — a feature that would ultimately become one of the company’s signatures.

‘We wanted to bring our culture of belle horlogerie, associated with the 18th and 19th centuries, to the wrists of our clients,’ Flageollet said in an interview in 2022. ‘The idea was to adapt great classic watchmaking to modern watches.’

Some of the dozen or so patents and 30 world-firsts pioneered by De Bethune include a balance-spring made from thermocompensated silicon; a balance wheel with gold inertia weights; a new chronometric setting system; a new winding speed regulating system; and the world’s lightest and fastest tourbillon, which comprises some 63 parts, beats at a frequency of 36,000 vibrations per hour and weighs just 0.18 grams.

In 2011, De Bethune’s achievements were recognised when the DB28 model won the highest distinction in the industry: the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève’s ‘Aiguille d’Or’ — an award that honours the best timepiece of the year, judged by a panel of watchmaking professionals. It was a remarkable feat considering the company was only nine years old.

The models

Since 2002, De Bethune has produced more than 150 different models, featuring some 30 different in-house movements, which range from traditional-looking timepieces to sci-fi-inspired wearable artworks.

It started with the DB1, the first iteration of which was an elegant, single-pusher chronograph with flamed-blue steel hands. This was quickly followed by the restrained hours-and-minutes-only DB2, then the DB3, which incorporated a power reserve dial and moon phase.

Highlighting the pace at which Zanetta and Flageollet set about their quest for perfection, the following year alone saw the release of, on average, one new watch a month, including the DB6, DB8, DB9, DB10, DB11, DB12 and DB14.

In 2004, De Bethune launched the first model to be built entirely in-house: the DB15. With its spherical moon, blue steel and unique rapid date-adjustment function, it was hailed as the supercar of the watch world, and the Robb Report magazine awarded it the ‘best of the best’ title.

The following year, De Bethune created a pièce unique: the DBS 8-day prototype, for the inaugural Only Watch charity auction, organised by Luc Pettavino and presided over by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, to raise funds for research into muscular dystrophy.

The design signalled an aesthetic departure from the more traditional appearance of previous watches, instead incorporating a futuristic-looking skeletonised bridge that resembled the Star Trek insignia — a look that became De Bethune’s trademark.

The 2025 De Bethune line-up includes seven models: the DB Kind of Two is a reversible watch with two contrasting dials for dual time zones; the DB8 is a monopusher chronograph; the DBD reveals jumping time and date dials through tiny apertures; the DB25 comes as a monopusher chronograph or perpetual calendar, and often features a dial depicting the starry night sky; the DB27 is called an ‘ode to simplicity’; the DB28 is an avant-garde model — the first watch to incorporate patented ‘floating lugs’ that pivot on the wearer’s wrist; and the DB29 recalls the charm of a pocket watch but is packed with innovations.

Then there is De Bethune’s Dream Watch collection, in which the company pushes its artistry to the limits. Since 2008, only seven models have been released. Some are produced in editions as small as 10, and each one is more striking than the last. The most recent, 2021’s Dream Watch 5 Tourbillon ‘Season 1’, is billed as ‘an anthem to transparency and light’ in sapphire crystal and titanium, and was created in collaboration with the American musician Swizz Beatz.

De Bethune’s Maestri’Art programme also produces one-off watches, customised by its master in-house engraver, Michèle Rothen. Rendered in exquisite, minute detail on a watch’s dial and case, some of the recurring themes include dancing skeletons and Japanese dragons.

De Bethune’s future

In 2011, Zanetta and Flageollet were joined by CEO Pierre Jacques. In 2016, Zanetta stepped back from the business.

Today, De Bethune employs some 80 staff, including watchmakers, developers, designers, mechanical engineers, polishers and decorators, at its facility in L’Auberson. Together they produce around 350 watches a year, retailing for anywhere between $45,000 and $300,000. The company has its own showroom in the heart of Geneva, and works with some 25 retailers around the world to offer its watches to select clients.

Flageollet even has his own ‘Mécanique d’Art’ training course, established to ensure that his knowledge and experience are passed down to the next generation of talent in the world of fine watchmaking.

‘De Bethune watches offer collectors an appealing alternative to the better-known, larger brands,’ says Guillemin. ‘And because production is so tightly controlled and the number of watches made is so low, they’re incredibly sought after. Only around four or five thousand have ever been produced. They’re incredible machines and represent something for the real connoisseur.’

Rare Watches, Featuring Stories in Time: A Collection of Exceptional Watches takes place at Christie’s in Geneva on 12 May 2025, followed by Watches Online: The Geneva Edit Featuring Stories in Time: A Collection of Exceptional Watches (live for browsing 13-21 May). Both sales will be on view 9-11 May at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues, Geneva. Explore Luxury at Christie’s