Fastwong
1697
Yeah, it looks like a Star Trek watch. As it should!
Oct 21, 2023,03:17 AM
- Image from GPHGP
With the great covid watch bubble De Bethune has been able to capture a lot more attention and WB has pulled Denis out of the shop and into the spotlight. This has all done a lot to help people understand the brand, the technology, the innovation, and the people behind the watches but I think there is a piece of the story that has been left in the appendix that explains the philosphy of the design and connection to space without which some might dismiss the aesthetic as Star Trek luxury.
Part of that story which has been relegated to the archives is David Zanetta's influence on the brand. Through him we see the passion, the crazy, and the philosophy of the brand and it's start which helps explain the aesthetic of the brand today:
There's another interview which I've been unable to find but it connected these concepts and emotions to the intentional connection of space and the universe to time to the watch and then the individual through art and design. I know that comes across as a little woo woo but it is is everywhere in watchmaking just represetned differently. Moon phases, perpetual calendars, sidereal time, complication has been the go-to method of going beyond earth time and acknowledging time and space on the wrist. Looked at from this perspective helps connect De Bethune to more traditional watchmaking:
- from Patek
- from Deployant
- from Revolution
Maybe that's the stretch of all stretches but I hope it adds another dimension of the design aesthetic to consider beyond Stat Trek. Similarly, from a technical perspective instead of developing up - more complicaitons, more ways of representing time, more - De Bethune looked inwards, the balance, the tourbillon. Maybe that's a different post and also a stretch but I think it helps contextualize other ways of valuing innovation and complication.