SJX Watches
De Bethune After Dark: the DB27 “Night Hawk”
Massachusetts-based retailer EsperLuxe represents many leading names in independent watchmaking, and has just collaborated with De Bethune to create the DB27 Night Hawk. Based on the Titan Hawk V2, the Night Hawk is a 10-piece limited edition with matte-finished blued titanium lugs and a secret meaning expressed in its star-studded titanium dial. Initial thoughts De Bethune is quite unlike other contemporary independent watchmakers. Majority owned by The 1916 Company since 2021, De Bethune nonetheless appears to operate much as it did prior to the acquisition, serving as a vehicle for co-founder Denis Flageollet’s prodigious creative output. The Night Hawk exemplifies De Bethune’s unique perspective, which fuses in-house technical watchmaking with a science fiction-inspired aesthetic. It’s a difficult balancing act, but the brand has amassed a devoted following by staying outside industry norms for design and decoration. A creature of the night The Night Hawk is a variant of the DB27 Titan Hawk V2, which debuted in 2018 as the brand’s ‘entry level’ model. Naturally, that term is somewhat out of place in the world of low-volume watchmaking, but it nonetheless brings many of the brand’s signatures within reach of a wider segment of collectors. One of those signatures is heat-blued (or purpled) case elements, including the Night Hawk’s blued titanium lugs, which are part of a hinged exterior case frame that articulates from a spring-loaded hinge on each side o...
