De Bethune, a Swiss independent watchmaker, was recently challenged by Swizz Beats. The American producer slash watch collector pushed the manufacturer to thrust its Dream Watch 5 to a whole new level. Luckily for all, De Bethune has risen to the occasion with its recent launch.

The answer to the call takes shape in the form of the Dream Watch 5 Tourbillion “Season 1.” Denis Flageollet, De Bethune co-founder (and watchmaker), envisioned in the piece something that is both “user-friendly and easily legible.”

De Bethune revealed the futuristic timepiece this month at WatchTime New York, just months after Swizz Beats, also known as Kaseem Dean, essentially dared the watchmaker to come up with it in 2020.

The watch makes the most sense for somebody who appreciates a space-age style and whose favorite color is blue. The polished titanium case is broken up into seven panes of blue-tinted sapphire crystal. There’s a blue two-toned sphere and palladium to show the moon’s phase.

De Bethune

De Bethune

To read the time, the wearer glances at the two concentric rings denoting the hour and minutes. Both can be observed through the hand-cut sapphire crystal panels. In the middle, the moon phase takes center stage. It is reported that the lunar day is accurate for up to 1,112 years.

At the 3 o’clock area, a window reveals the current time with a digital display. The crown features something special, too. Instead of synthetic sapphire, the piece boasts authentic cabochon sapphire.

On the reserve, another crystal shows off the hand-wound DB2149 movement and tourbillon. The component is made up of 63 small parts and yet tips the scale at only 0.18 grams. Even more impressive, this tourbillon is twice as fast as a standard, rotating in 30 seconds.

De Bethune

De Bethune

Back in 2008, De Bethune first debuted its Dream Watch to the world. With it, the watchmaker began down a path of innovative designs. The new “Season 1” tourbillion is clearly a generation based on its past models. The attention paid to light, transparency, and weight shows that much.