DB9W, White Gold

When David Zanetta and Denis Flageollet founded De Bethune in 2002 in the Swiss Jura village of L'Auberson, they made an unusual promise: before building the watches of the future, they would first prove mastery of the past. Zanetta, an Italian design visionary and collector of art and historic watches, paired perfectly with Flageollet, a fourth-generation watchmaker who had co-founded the complications workshop THA alongside François-Paul Journe and built movements for Breguet, Cartier, and Parmigiani. Their first maxim—'to compose contemporary music, you must first command classical music’—shaped the brand's earliest references, the DB1 through 2003/2004. Featuring guilloché dials, Breguet handsets, and classical fonts, these are a radically dinstinct chapter of DB.

The DB9 arrived in 2003 and remains one of the rarest early De Bethunes: just 9 examples in white gold (DB9W) and 10 in rose gold (DB9R) were delivered through the mid-2000s. The 42mm case, originally developed for a chronograph, is remarkably svelte at 9.2mm and carries the brand's now-iconic ogival ‘bullet’ lugs—an early hint of the spaceship aesthetic to come—along with DB’s distinctive, signature faceted winding crown.

Inside beats the manual-wind calibre DB7009, a 19-jewel movement with ébauche sourced from the firm that became La Joux-Perret, delivering a full seven days of autonomy. The dial is where the DB9W charms most: a hand-executed, engine-turned guilloché centre framed by bold blue-printed Arabic numerals on a smooth chapter ring, with slender leaf hands. Its cleverest trick sits at 12 o'clock—what reads as a moonphase is actually a power reserve indicator, a polished disc gliding between twin round apertures from right (fully wound) to left (depleted). The DB3's second time zone was deleted in favor of the logo at 6.

For collectors, the DB9 is a foundational landmark. Only about 3,560 De Bethunes existed after two decades, with output still under 350 pieces annually—and among those, the DB9W's nine-piece run is vanishingly small. Early De Bethune remains distinctly outside the spotlight today, but offers some of the most unabashed, strongly proportioned clarity that only the early-2000s mind of Denis Flageollet could have conceived. This classical era is one of the great little-discussed corners of early independent watchmaking. And this is example #007. 

This DB9W presents in great overall condition. Its dial features a light patina with only small signs of age. The case features light surface wear but no significant bashes or deep marks. The calibre DB7009 is running well in specification on our timing equipment. It comes with a white gold pin buckle, on a tan leather De Bethune strap (S-M length). The set includes the original box and certificate noting sale in Japan .

This example is modelled on an average-sized 7-inch wrist.