Not much impressed me this year at Basel 2010, and seriously, the ones that did were predictable and expected for a very long time. I guess that’s the difference between Basel and Geneva. The brands that that show at Basel are mostly all whores because you see it all before it gets unveiled and when it is shown all you get is a limp dick, because you are no longer interested,while Geneva gives you so much foreplay that, when you do actually see the product you’ll need to replace your screen, because of the excitement. Basically the Basel product is let out of the bag before it’s shown which is actually irritating because there is no mystery. One brand that didn’t show at Basel, but was at Basel was De Bethune which has slowly over the last 5 years become one of my top three favs of the complicated shit that’s being produced in a limited and exclusive capacity.
This Year for Basel 2010 De Bethune launched the brand new DBLM which is magnificent and no doubt is my favorite watch for 2010. I mean what’s not to like, unless you are going blind and even then you will get instant wood just feeling the high grade polished titanium case. From the pictures that I have, which were taken by Ian Skellem at Horomundi, I have quite frankly never seen a watch look this fucking mind blowing off and on the wrist. The watch is feather light, weighing only 45 grams, and from what I understand, the watch is particularly comfortable to wear because of the articulated lugs, which serve the purpose of technical design feature and ultimate wearability.
After being weak at the knees going on a tangent about it’s phenomenal exterior, the guts and heart of the watch are equally if not more impressive. Where you have a power reserve that indicates how long a watch will actually be running for, the “Optimal Performance Indicator” on the DBLM, alerts the person wearing the watch if the actual wind of the watch is in the realm of maximum accuracy. While the power reserve of the movement is 5 days, 4-days of that power is optimal for accuracy, which is an incredibly useful feature. The attention to detail like the large central triangular bridge has a polished steel bridge and the miniature dots for the hour markers are highly polished titanium. The hands are three dimensional, the lugs are floating which is a signature icon that gives the watch character, while the balance is silicon which ensures longevity and the case is highly polished titanium which makes the watch extremely light.
All these elements make this watch an outstanding timepiece on so many different levels and adds to my obsession to why I have to have it, even though it’s only like $80,000. The watch will be available exclusively at the Hourglass in Singapore and Chronopassion In France for 2010 and the rest of the world will be so lucky in 2011.
JOHNNY FLYBACK 