For Geneva Watch Days 2025, De Bethune goes small with the debut of two extra-small watches, the first being the utterly unusual and stunning DB25xs Starry Varius in burgundy red.

Long associated with the Milky Way rendered in blued, polished titanium, it is almost startling to see the dial in another shade. Yet the result is so compelling it feels like love at first sight. The burgundy is warm, rich, and just as luxurious as the earlier blue version. It also makes perfect sense, since the Milky Way is often seen not only in blue and black but also in tones of red and purple. The watch inevitably brings to mind the 2022 limited edition created for the Emirates Watch Club with Eastern Arabic numerals, and its return in such a lovely shade is most welcomed.

As expected, the burgundy tone is achieved through heat treatment and oxidation carried out by the brand’s in-house metallurgist, then polished to perfection before being hand-applied with white-gold pins for the stars and finished with gold flakes to complete the cosmic effect.

The DB25xs also introduces a new case size, reduced to 40 mm from the original 42 mm. This adjustment will appeal to collectors who admire the brand’s aesthetics but prefer a case with more balanced proportions.

Inside ticks De Bethune’s hand-wound calibre with a six-day power reserve, equipped with the brand’s proprietary innovations: the patented titanium balance wheel with white-gold inertia blocks and the Triple Pare-chute shock-absorbing system, first unveiled twenty years ago.

And if 40 mm still does not sound small enough, De Bethune has also unveiled a 38.7 mm watch — and it is no ordinary piece but the flagship DB28xs Kind of Blue Tourbillon.

True to its name, the DB28xs remains entirely blue. The grade 5 titanium case with articulating lugs is fully heat-treated to achieve its vivid glow, as is the dial. What changes is proportion. The smaller diameter alters the size and position of the applied markers, resulting in a more open dial and a slightly pared-back execution with reduced markers and a non-polished surface. The effect is less elaborate, but the gain in wearability more than compensates.

Beneath the dial is the same high-performance movement with a five-day power reserve, even while running at a high frequency of 5 Hz, or 36,000 vibrations per hour. Its 30-second tourbillon rotates twice as fast as a conventional tourbillon, made possible by an ultra-light construction in titanium, with a cage that weighs just 0.18 grams while comprising 63 components.