Hi Una,
In my opinion if the flower buds are well developed then watering would not be a risk and would probably facilitate the swelling and opening of the flower buds and release of fragrance. If it is the true D. nobile species (purple labellum blotch with pink tips on sepals), it really will have benefited from the drought period you have provided. If they are heavily fed and watered in the autumn they will produce beautiful plump green stems but will not produce many flowers. The YouTube Channel “Brads Orchids” recently discussed D. nobile flowering so you could check that out.

That’s beautiful, Úna!

I have a few Nobile type Dendrobiums as well, I really love their honey fragrance!
I mounted a few of mines just for experimental purposes and because I got somewhat annoyed that they become so fast top heavy with the big and plump canes…The mature one I mounted had an amazing display of soft colored flowers, I’ll try to upload a photo…
The dry rest is really important, and I think they do like cool and dry combined (they make more buds in my experience)… I actually have a moss box, like an incubator on my balcony beside the rail with some bare old canes since the summer and just checked on it’s content yesterday…the keikis grow happily and are not bothered by the cold outside the box…Such an amazing genus, I truly love Dendrobiums!