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Born from a desire to celebrate precision, purity of form and the search for meaning, the CAB Foundation pays tribute to minimal and conceptual art. In this architectural setting bathed in light, simplicity is never a withdrawal, but a revelation of essential forms, subtle balances and suspended time. It was only natural that the watchmaking house would find a deep resonance with this institution based in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France.
The partnership between the CAB Foundation and De Bethune seals the meeting of two parallel paths: that of a passionate collector of minimal and conceptual art and that of a visionary watchmaker exploring time not only as a measure, but as a living substance, a sculpted form, and a perceptual experience. Together, they open a new dialogue between contemporary art and mechanical art, between exhibited works and timepieces, between the vibration of a Dan Flavin neon and the bluish glow of mirror-polished titanium. It is also a shared tribute to the intelligence of the hand, to experimentation and to the ever-renewed possibility of evoking emotion through the right shape. In this space where every detail is intentional, the gaze settles, time slows down and it becomes apparent that true innovations in both art and watchmaking often lie in returning to essentials in order to reveal their power.
The first chapter of this dialogue with time, presented in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, highlights this spirit of exploration and the transcendence of codes through a collaboration with artist Fiona Krüger to create Mystery Box: Forget Time, a unique mechanical work inspired by the writings of physicist Carlo Rovelli on the impermanence of time.
Imagined by Fiona Krüger and developed in close collaboration with Denis Flageollet, this immersive work fuses art, philosophy and horology. Its internal clock, featuring hour-markers floating on glass tubes, gives shape to a perception of time that is both fluid and elusive. The outer marquetry, crafted with Hawthorn Fine Boxes and artisan Emeline Dépail, visually translates cosmic motion, in perfect harmony with De Bethune’s aesthetic and mechanical vision. This creation also questions our relationship with time in order to help us break free of it.
July 10, 2025