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Baselword 2012 - Official PuristSPro Report: DeWitt
Dear All:
Our second report highlights one of the few truly ‘outstanding’ manufacturers, the Manufacture DeWitt. ‘Outstanding’ not because we think that their products offer exceptional quality, but because of their unique structure as a small, integrated and above all family-owned company.
As the company belongs to the lesser-known ones in the trade, it certainly deserves a more comprehensive introduction. Magnus wrote in his recently published article that
“… (t)he important consequence of this is that the timepieces reflect the mindsets of their creators in a most uncompromised fashion, both because the owners are only responsible for themselves (in contrast to managers and executives that are judged by economic performance), and also because the companies actually have the capacities to transform those ideas into marvellous products.”
This certainly is true for DeWitt. The watches are the direct brainchild of company founder Mr Jérome de Witt, the great-grandson of King Leopold II of Belgium and a direct, fifth-generation descendant of the Emperor Napoleon's brother, King Jérome of Westphalia, a distinguished watch connoisseur.
“Just as Mr de Witt himself, founder and President of the company, the DeWitt brand breathes a unique vision of luxury, daringly different and unconventional.” (Press Kit)
Quite strikingly, DeWitt watches impress with two features:
- A remarkably consistent aesthetic identity thanks to the theme of ‘imperial columns’ framing the case. The idea is derived from co-axial male/female gears. Mr de Witt has a reputation as a dedicated collector and restorer of thoroughbred vintage cars. With differential mechanisms there are concentric gears that consist of an outer female and an inner male part. The decisive benefit is that can the two parts can move relative to each other along their axis. DeWitt transformed this idea into watchcases. Jet engine nozzles inspire the design of the crowns.
- Painstaking dial work in elaborate guillochage executed in-house from A (raw brass/gold etc. material) to Z (finished, printed and lacquered dial).
The sentence above gives an important clue to appreciate the brand. One has to meet Mr. de Witt, a watch connoisseur, an admirer for finer things in life, but most importantly equipped with an intellectual passion for understanding the fundamentals of aesthetical, technological, architectural or musical concepts and transforming and applying them in new contexts such as watch design.
Passion and cordiality is probably their key/secret.
So there we are with the Novelties – we saw several members from their Academia, Twenty-8-Eight and Exceptional collections. The common denominator of the former two collections is the use of a new material called Neotitanium:
"Originally used in the aerospace industry, grade 5 Neotitanium is a new metal whose hardness is 10 times superior to that of grade 5 Titanium. Used in fields as varied as surgery and Formula 1, it now also finds a place in the (DeWitt collection).
The material is treated directly with electro-plasma or micro-arc plasma and anodised, and not only on the surface. In fact, the piece is plunged into a high-amperage bath, a process giving it formidable properties such as excellent impact resistance, lighter weight, and a significant reduction in seizure problems as well as the elimination of all traces when touched." (Press Kit)
The latter collection stands without any peers, as we shall see (follow-up posts!).
This message has been edited by Magnus Bosse on 2012-03-27 01:55:43
Baselword 2012 - Official PuristSPro Report: DeWitt
Dear All: Our second report highlights one of the few truly ‘outstanding’ manufacturers, the Manufacture DeWitt . ‘Outstanding’ not because we think that their products offer exceptional quality, but because of their unique structure as a small, integrate...
The Twenty-8-Eight Collection...
Offering a slimmer and more reduced interpretation of the DeWitt identity, the Twenty-8-Eight collection gains tremendously with the introduction of Neotitanium. NOVELTIES: Twenty-8-Eight Automatic Twenty-8-Eight Seconde Retrograde Twenty-8-Eight Tourbill...
Okay the Tourbillon Squelette is just sick.
DeWitt has always been okay in my eyes but this just set it off for me. That is really good looking. Clean and sharp
I had to read your comment twice, but...
I know what you mean ;-) In terms of bold skeletonisaton work this is clearly a very well implemented one. Cheers, Magnus
The Academia Collection...
NOVELTIES: Academia Mirabilis Academia Tourbillon Impérial Academia Mirabilis The Academia Mirabilis might appear as one of the many watches with (partly) open-worked dials. However, on the second view it reveals all its magic: “The Academia Mi...
The Exceptional Collection...
NOVELTIES: Concept Watch No 3: X-Watch The X-Watch is the third in line of exceptional watches created in support of the Only Watch charity events dedicated to fund research for a disease called Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The timepiece (its really more ...
Our Conclusion!
We have been welcomed and hosted by two lovely members of the team, but Mr. de Witt joined us for the first drink and was available whenever we had “tricky” questions (PuristS you know ☺) throughout the presentation of the novelties. Mag...