Gaël Monfils, the French tennis player, who lives in Geneva and is a fan of beautiful mechanical timepieces, had stopped in front of the De Bethune store on place Longemalle a few times. “I have around thirty watches but De Bethune’s creations really are different from the rest,” he told Worldtempus on the terrace of the Société Nautique de Genève two days before the start of Wimbledon.
“I value their technical prowess and the innovations that they have brought to the world of watchmaking,” said the man who has for a long time held the record for the most powerful smash on the circuit (190km/h). The contract he has signed with De Bethune is for a three-year partnership.
Both the ambassador and the brand are in their respective top 20s. The 27 year-old tennis star has moved between the 7th and 21st places on the ATP tour, while De Bethune is in 19th place among the high-end watch brands searched for on the Internet, according to Digital Luxury Group’s World Watch Report. Gaël Monfils thus joins the club of tennis players who were exceptional timepieces, such as Rafaël Nadal, Roger Federer, David Ferrer, Stanislas Wavrinka and Novak Djokovic, to name just the most famous ones.
This is the first time that De Bethune has teamed up with a celebrity. The company’s annual production ranges from 300 to 400 pieces with an average price of 90,000 Swiss francs. Pierre Jacques justifies this decision by stressing the personality of Gaël Montfils: “He is the rebel of the courts, he doesn’t do anything like anybody else. At the same time, the way he moves is unique and we can draw a parallel between the precision of our movements and that of his stance on court or his shots.
Gaël will play wearing his watch, which we have personalised with a blued titanium dial that may result in a limited edition, which will allow us to test our patented triple pare-chute shock-absorbing system.” Let’s hope that this DB28 brings him luck on court!
