The De Bethune DB27 Titan Hawk was first introduced at Baselworld 2012 in honor of the boutique brand’s tenth anniversary and as the next step in its evolution. It featured a light and modern titanium case, slim lines, and an interesting microlight-finished dial, all for a more affordable price than fans of the manufacture had been used to up to that point. It was an appealing, young watch – and it still is in its newest 2021 iteration.
With the industry in the midst of a tsunami of green dials, De Bethune plants its own seedling to take the verdant wave by storm.
De Bethune DB27 Titan Hawk in green
De Bethune DB27 Titan Hawk in green
If you love green, you will find the front of the new version of the Titan Hawk mesmerizing: its microlight-finished dial center is surrounded by a seemingly three-dimensional chapter ring bearing Roman numeral hour markers and a railroad minute track featuring futuristic Arabic numerals.
Original De Bethune DB27 Titan Hawk launched in 2012
Previously, the Titan Hawk featured an unusual, large, triangular sweep date hand that added a hitherto unknown dimension to the classic De Bethune dial. That distinctive hand has now been replaced by a simple baton hand displaying seconds rather than the date (which has also disappeared).
The triangular shape is still represented, though, now by a dial embellishment that also carries the “De Bethune” brand name and the model name “Titan Hawk” (sounds like a superhero name, doesn’t it? It always did to me).
The hour and minute hands, while still unusual, are slightly different in shape from the originals of 2012, but they are still openworked to leave the emphasis on the dial texture. The hands are no longer blued steel but rather sandblasted steel for better contrast against the dark green dial.
De Bethune DB27 Titan Hawk in green on the wrist
As its name hints, the Titan Hawk is housed in a polished titanium case and features De Bethune’s unique “floating” lugs. In addition to looking incredibly cool, these spring-loaded lugs ensure a comfortable fit on any wrist size.
De Bethune DB27 Titan Hawk V2 Green
De Bethune DB27 Titan Hawk in green: the movement
In 2012, the Titan Hawk’s case back was crafted in solid titanium featuring a sapphire crystal peephole to the balance made of silicon and white gold and fitted with De Bethune’s proprietary triple pare-chute shock-absorbing system.
That peephole is now gone – and good riddance: why would you want to hide the incredible caliber powering this watch? Introduced with De Bethune’s first automatic caliber in 2012, today this leafy-green watch is powered by De Bethune’s latest automatic caliber, the Auto V2.
Caliber Auto V2 visible through the display back of the De Bethune DB27 Titan Hawk
The fact that this movement is automatic is noteworthy because most of De Bethune’s masterpieces are driven by manually wound movements. But not this one.
Turning the watch over, perhaps the next thing that strikes the eye is the abundance of blued components in the movement – what, after all, would a De Bethune watch be without its famous blue somewhere? And there is definitely enough blue here to satisfy die-hard De Bethune fans with a love of both green and blue.
And, despite the added automatic winding assembly, including a rather low-key oscillating weight in titanium and tungsten, the new Titan Hawk remains model-thin at 9 mm in height.
De Bethune DB27 Titan Hawk in green
On its way to becoming a modern classic, it’s nice to see De Bethune producing more casual timepieces from time to time.
For more information, please visit www.debethune.ch/en/collections/db27-collection/db27-titan-hawk-v2.
Quick Facts De Bethune DB27 Titan Hawk green
Case: 43 x 9 mm, polished grade 5 titanium
Movement: automatic Caliber Auto V2, titanium balance wheel with gold inserts, steel escape wheel, 4 Hz/28,800 vph frequency, 60-hour power reserve (one spring barrel)
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds
Limitation: 10 pieces
Price: 40,000 Swiss francs excl. local taxes
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Too big and too much ,by a lot , still nice looking tho.