Last year I was fortunate enough to meet Katidja Valy Perazzi who at this time was the communications director at De Bethune. Although the meeting was relatively short she gave me a comprehensive overview of the company. For example they manufacture all their watches in house unlike many other contemporary brands. Ultimately this gives them a massive advantage in terms of quality control and output. Recently Katidja and former CEO Pierre Jacques have left De Bethune to join other watch companies.
A few weeks ago I received a very interesting press release from De Bethune unveiling possibly their most exciting and unusual creation to date. This striking timepiece is appropriately called the Dream Watch Meteorite. Although the watch isn’t a new design the choice of material is a first for the company. In my humble opinion I think this is the best looking watch they have ever produced. Probably this is because the timepiece has a wonderful textured cobalt blue appearance unlike anything else on the market.
Prior to working with Frank Heydrich (on the Polaris) I had not really considered the aesthetic qualities of meteorite. However after wearing and writing about some of his unique timepieces I have become fascinated with this material. Frank explained that meteorite is very sensitive to work with and therefore it takes several attempts to achieve the quality desired. That is why constructing a case from this matter must be exceptionally difficult. Ultimately this is probably the main reason why it is rarely used. In fact apart from the Dream Watch I have only seen two other watches fabricated in this substance. The first is a refined timepiece by Antoine Preziuso and the second is by Greco Genève. Although it would be fair to say that the latter is more of a talking point because it resembles a large chunk of rock.
The Dream Watch Meteorite is a truly unique piece designed for real watch aficionados. Therefore interested parties would have to fork out a staggering 450,000 CHF (approximately $456,033) to buy this timepiece.
