DuBois et Fils DBF005

Quick specs DuBois et Fils DBF005
Price: starting at € 7.850 | approx. $ 9,220 | £ 6,640
Size: 42.5 mm
Reference:
DBF005-01 (black dial, limited to 33 pieces)
DBF005-02 (white dial, limited to 33 pieces)
DBF005-03 (brown dial, limited to 11 pieces)
DBF005-04 (blue dial, limited to 11 pieces)
DBF005-05 (green dial, limited to 11 pieces)

The DuBois et Fils DBF005 is not brand new. It was announced last year, and the first customers got their piece in the second quarter of this year. And as the model isn’t completely sold out it is worth to take a look at it.

The brand DuBois et Fils goes back to the early days of watchmaking. You can read about the history of DuBois et Fils here, but it all started in 1751. The brand was registered as Philippe DuBois & Fils in 1785, the year of DuBois’ renowned claim their factory started. Which makes it the oldest watchmaking factory in the world. Although Vacheron Constantin could have made that claim too.

After ups and downs DuBois was kind of revived in 2010 when Thomas Steinemann buys the company. He brings a new logo, new models and a new way of financing the company. For that he uses crowdfunding, for the first time in 2012 and again this year. Recently we published an article about this: how to become an owner of DuBois et Fils. You can still join them. Now back to the DBF005 collection.

The DuBois et Fils DBF005 comes in five different colors

There are five executions of the DuBois et Fils DBF005, each with a different dial color. The 42.5-millimeter steel case features an ETA 2892 automatic chronograph with an additional Dubois-Dépraz 4500 module for the big date complication. The ETA 2892 is one of the most popular ETA movements to be used in high-end watches: accurate and reliable. Longines, Panera, Hamilton, Tudor and many more brands rely on the ETA 2892.

Dubois-Dépraz (est. 1901) is world famous for their modules which can be found in models from Breitling, Omega, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Richard Mille. Just to name a few. And DuBois et Fils of course. Both companies are founded by a DuBois, we don’t know if they are somehow family.

New designs from the brand

The design of the DBF005 is quite strong and if you look at the other DuBois collections you will notice a new design signature. The combination of a big date and chronograph can be found on other DuBois’ collections as well, they all have clean dials with fine details. Easy to read and most models have subtle color contrast as well. Perhaps the only design part missing is a clear link to older DuBois et Fils models. A matter of taste, but we would have liked somewhat more ‘heritage’ in the models of a 266-year old watch brand. Still, good looking.

Unfortunately, all the models limited to 11 pieces are sold out. The good part is there are still a number of the editions limited to 33 pieces available. And even better, you can choose your favorite number. Now let’s hope that number is still available.