Our Take

It’s with great pleasure that we present the De Bethune DB28 GS Grand Bleu. It is not everyday an independent brand at the top of fine watchmaking creates a sports watch. Normally, this echelon of horology is focused exclusively on artistry, leaving very little room for rugged daily wearability.

Yet De Bethune’s first sports watch, the Grand Bleu, bears all the emblems of a traditional sports watch with a high horology twist. Featuring a screw-down crown, 100m water resistance, and a unidirectional rotating bezel, the sportiness of the Grand Bleu is paired with a finely crafted openworked dial as well as De Bethune’s characteristic floating lugs and futuristic design language.

We would be remiss to not mention the most interesting and innovative aspect of the Grand Bleu: a fully mechanical LED lighting system. A pusher at 6 o’clock activates LED lights on the dial developed in collaboration with Black Badger’s James Thompson.The light is exclusively derived from the energy stored in the movement’s twin barrels. Fittingly, this is an uncommon innovation for the unusual crossover of ultra high-end watchmaking with sports watch durability. Overall, the Grand Bleu is everything a collector could want in a fine timepiece without any of the worry over everyday wear and tear...and yes even for those recreational deep (or shallow) water excursions!

Shown here a recently delivered example on a black rubber strap.

The Details

DB28 GS GRAND BLEU

Case: Black Zirconium case middle with "microlight"decoration, brushed and polished grade 5 titanium caseback and bezel.

Dimensions: Diameter 44mm - Thickness 12.8mm

Glasses: Sapphire crystal, 1800 Vickers hardness with double anti-reflective treatment.

Water resistance: 10ATM

Strap: Natural Rubber Strap with folding clasp in brushed grade 5 titanium.

Movement: Mechanical Hand Wound

Power reserve: 5 Days

Features:

• Self-regulating twin barrel De Bethune Innovation (2004)
• Titanium balance wheel with white gold inserts
• "De Bethune" Balance-spring with flat terminal curve
• Silicon Escape wheel
• Triple pare-chute shock-absorbing system.
• Dial lighting produced by an entirely mechanical means working on the dynamo principle powered by a twin barrel and manually controlled via a pusher.