De Bethune x Art in Time Dream Watch 5 Aviation Pièce Unique

This project started with a vision of Mr. Karl Friedrich Scheufele on something relative to aviation and then both De Bethune & Yohann Martinez of ART in TIME collaborated together to push the limits and create the ultimate piece inspired by conquest of the air. 

"I sent a request to Pierre Jacques and asked him to work on some drawings about conquest of the air and vintage aviation. After consulting Denis Flageolet from De Bethune, Mr Flageolet submitted us a drawing of a watch with rivets and brushed metal. I liked the photo but I asked them to go further because it seems a bit too simple to me."- says Yohann Martinez.

Aviation is at the heart of the artistic creation process. De Bethune is meticulously inspired by its engines and fuselages to craft a new DW5. A unique piece in titanium sublimated by the talent of the artist Michèle Rothen: a nine-cylinder star engine engraved by hand on the back of the watch.

"At the same time the caseback was too simple to me and I asked them to work on engraving ideas." - Yohann Martinez adds - "Denis Flageolet was looking for inspiration and offered me to do engravings of a 9-cylinder plane engine. This engraving was then made by Artist Michèle Rothen."

This is a type of piston engine in which the cylinders are placed on the same plane around the engine's output axis. This engine alone embodies the strength and thirst for innovation of aviation. Its power could reach up to 1000 horsepower. The DW5 opposes and reconciles the minuteness of its mechanism with the power of an aircraft engine.

The simplicity, only apparent, of a riveted fuselage hints at its strength. Its resistance to pressure, bending and torsion guarantees the integrity of the aircraft.

In the DW5, we find the details of the finishes, a spherical moon phase and especially blue. A blue-azure that reminds us at all times that the immensely large can be worn, provided we dream further.

"It was a great honor for me to collaborate in such a project and not stop until the project was perfect. This piece was recently acquired by an Indonesian collector who had so much wish to acquire that piece that It seem he was part of the project. He told me that he will have designed it exactly the way it is if he had to do it himself and said that this piece and his wrist were made to be reunited one day." - summs up Yohann Martinez, Director of Art in Time. 

Technical specifications

De Bethune x Art in Time Dream Watch 5 Aviation

Reference: DreamWatch5 AIT

Single-piece edition

Case

• Material: Brushed titanium with mirror polished rivets applied one by one in the case
• Dimensions: Length 58 mm - width 47 mm
• Thickness: 17mm
• Crown: Cabochon-cut red sapphire
• Caseback: Screw-in back in polished grade 5 titanium with hand-engraved motifs
• Water-resistant to 30 meters

Dial 

• Blued grade 5 titanium aperture frame

Display

• Jumping-hour aperture at 3 o’clock
• Minutes indication on a dragging rotating disc

• Indication of the spherical moon phases in meteorite, part of which is flame-blued, accurate to within one lunar day every 1,112 years

Movement

• Caliber DB2144
• Mechanical hand-wound movement
• Frequency: 28,800 vph (4Hz)
• Number of jewels: 32
• Power reserve 5 days

Functions/Indications

• Hours, minutes, central spherical moon-phase indication
• 30-minute indication on the ultra-light silicon and titanium De Bethune tourbillon cage appearing on the back

Strap and buckle

• Strap: Ultra-flexible alligator
• Buckle: Pin in brushed titanium

MSRP: In private collection

More at debethune.ch and art-in-time.com