Independents

David Zanetta, President and co-founder, with Denis Flageollet, of the De Bethune Manufacture. David Zanetta, and his son Alessandro, were recently in Australia to meet with De Bethune fans and collectors and I took the opportunity to ask David a few ques...  

" There are the victims of marketing. Many consider Patek to be the best watch in the world, but it clearly is not. The moment that someone states this on the Internet, many Patek lovers become offended. Some refuse to open their own minds and make their ... 

This is exactly the lines I was thinking of, for a long time now. Even if I love my Nautilus. Glad to see we share this opinion on that matter. Cheers, Mark (formerly Boréale)

Is not that Patek or any other brand are not good,but to each his own,there are gems in every brand and I find myself loving both big brands and independent and I give each and every one of them a different importance and personal relevance. The trouble i... 

What I meant by agreeing with pplater was that it is difficult to make criticism about Patek in a completly objective discussion. Their quality standard is not at the top of the pyramid for a huge part of the collection (finishing or even technics for som... 

Next time we ll discuss over a glass of wine:) Mo

would love to join you and not only because of this interesting topic :-) Oliver

Spring?

a rebellious attitude in such a conservative industry,De Bethune is up there at the top,and its most important representative embodies it to the full.... As for me,I am glad to have fallen for this brand since day 1 I crossed path with it,nothing much not... 

I am hoping it is the 'Resonique' watch too come that you may have seen? That will be special. Cory

...the piece in question is not a watch. It is, however, amazing. Cheers, pplater.

I would love to meet David and Denis to have a chat together. I couldn't attend SiHH but I'm looking forward to go and meet them one day or another. I launched a thread not long ago on PuristS about how people were "needing" more technnology or evolutions... 

it is and doesn't try to systematically please.

Bring it on! Mr Zanetta is like his watches,love it or hate it,but..you cannot stay indifferent,nor passive about it.... thanks Andrew for this truthful,genuine interview... Mo

I like that, I like it a lot. Andrew, thanks for the great interview! Oliver

... and I like how much character David have.. he is really a straight and honest person and his passion in watches is apparent with what he says...

I had the chance to talk many times with David Zanetta and I always appreciated his straight-talk. Fx

I think it's always a good thing to hear/read some impressions from someone IN the watch industry, thoughts that a lot of people have, but not many people say (in public). :) Thanks for sharing. Vte :)

...I always find it is a pity how ashamed Zanetta appears to be about DB's origins... The early De Bethunes cannot obviously compare technologically with the current collection. But aesthetically they do. And I would love to have Zanetta give a little col... 

After speaking to Mr Zanetta I have to tell you how much he cherishes his (short)heritage....explaining to me the reason why DB released a salmon DB27,he had to take Denis Flageollets watch off his wrists,a salmon solid gold dialled monopusher he had made... 

looks into the future and we cherish the 'past' (i.e. the current and vintage De Bethune pieces)! Magnus

thats why I have the feeling that we will talk about De Bethune a lot ...in the future... Mo

WE DEFINITELY WILL! Magnus

I would just love to see a full article about those early pieces: it is nearly impossible to find information neither on the web nor on DB's web. One of the oldies I own is precisely a DB8, a gold monopusher chrono, which I imagine may not be too differen...