Hands-On With De Bethune’s Double-Sided Kind Of Grande Complication

Few brands have pushed the boundaries of design and horology the way De Bethune has in recent years, and this year's Kind of Grande Complication could very fairly be called the brand's magnum opus — at least so far. Now, there are rare watches and then there are rare watches. This is the latter, with production said to be capped at about five pieces per year. Fortunately I was able to spend some time and photograph what can only be described as one of the most astoundingly elaborate pieces of watchmaking released in 2024.

It's not easy to bounce between traditional and completely out-there, bonkers, futuristic watch design, but De Bethune has nailed the recipe (I would place MB&F in this category, as well). Perhaps no two watches better reflect this philosophy than the DB25 and the DB28. The DB25 has a stunning polished blue titanium dial dotted with white gold pins that come together to create a truly breathtaking night sky motif. It also has very traditional hands that are something of a blend between Breguet and Feuille style as well as Roman numeral hour markers. On the other hand, the DB28 boasts the brand’s signature floating lugs and relentlessly avant-garde, almost sci-fi aesthetic that is built around the delta-shaped motif seen in various De Bethune bridges and mainplates. I bring up these watches because nearly every aesthetic signature that makes up the De Bethune design language is found in these two and can be seen implemented in the Kind of Grande Complication.

Before delving into the brilliant watchmaking on display here, let’s get a little context into what exactly the deal with these “double-sided” watches is. Of course, De Bethune is not the first to do this but the style is exceedingly rare. In fact other than the obvious Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, I can only think of blockbusters like the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime or Vacheron Constantin’s The Berkley Grand Complication (and its predecessor, the Ref. 57260 Tivoli).

The De Bethune Kind of Grande Complication is a culmination of the brand’s rather short but dazzling 22-year history. The DB2529 Calibre is a remarkable work of ingenuity and boasts a perpetual calendar, spherical moon phase, retrograde age of moon, tourbillon, jumping seconds, power reserve, and double display of hours and minutes. The titanium case measures 43.3mm wide and 13.85mm thick, which is pretty impressive considering there are two dial faces and eight complications housed in that compact package. Note the patented rotation system mounted on the floating lugs, which allows the case to easily and smoothly swivel around the central axis. A fun fact here is that 50 of the 60 components that create this mechanism are dedicated to achieving the 30 meters of water resistance. The crown can be seen at 12 o’clock on the “contemporary” side, which would be 6 o’clock on the “traditional” side.

Let’s start with the “contemporary” side of the dial which has that beautiful mirror-polished and skeletonized deltoid bridge and those patented, self-regulating twin barrels (this prevents overwinding). The hour, minute, and seconds hands are all done in polished blue titanium. The deadbeat (or jumping) seconds hand has a separate mechanism that consists of two gold wheels driven by a double pallet-lever. Deadbeat seconds are really quite rare and take quite a bit of effort to create. This allows the seconds hand to operate at its own 1-Hz beat rate, which is, of course, seen with each highly precise jump. Oh, and it’s also got hacking seconds.

Move down to 6 o’clock and you can see a lovely thin bridge, beneath which is the incredibly lightweight 30-second tourbillon (0.18g) — made of blued titanium, silicon, and white gold — operating at 5 Hz. Between 1 and 3 o’clock you will see the retrograde display for the moon’s age, which synchronizes with the spherical moon-phase display on the other side of the case. And at 9 o’clock there is the power-reserve indicator showing how much of the four-day power reserve is remaining.

While obviously technically impressive, the finishing here is up there with the finest watchmakers. The exhaustive black-polished and mirror-finishing is even more captivating when admiring the watch in person, but photos should do it justice. And then there are the teeth of the ratchet wheel, which have micro-beveling with a mirrored finish. Every little detail here has been lovingly and masterfully finished.

Flip the case around to the “traditional” side and you can’t help but be lost in that heat-blued, mirror-polished titanium sky with those hand-applied, gold pin stars accentuated with laser micro-milling gilded with gold leaf to create that breathtaking “milky way” design. At 3 o’clock is the spherical moon-phase display with one half in flame-blued steel and the other in palladium. This side of the dial has all the perpetual calendar functions, which include a quickset mechanism in which the date can be progressed while also advancing the month, making for much easier use.

De Bethune co-founder Denis Flageollet is the mind that took a total of 751 components (552 parts for the movement alone) and created a truly special watch with the Kind of Grande Complication. An exceedingly ambitious and unapologetically designed watch, this could be nothing other than a De Bethune. I implore anyone who has a chance to see one of these in person to take it, because with the limited production of five pieces per year, and a price of $450,000, it’s very possible you may never get the chance again.