Bovet is an impressive company with a long and illustrious history. Having started out specializing in the Chinese market in the 1800s, where Bovet remains a famous name today, Bovet under the leadership of Pascal Raffy has become a phenomenal success story, in terms of both high watchmaking and sales.
Determined to do as much as possible in-house, Bovet has its movement Manufacture at Dimier in Tramelan and its watchmaking workshops in the Château de Môtiers. Raffy himself divides his time between these two, and the brand’s headquarters in Geneva, as well as visits to the markets.
During January of this year, Bovet introduced the stunning Amadeo® Fleurier Tourbillon Virtuoso III, and it is truly a tour de force.
This incredible Grand Complication combines a tourbillon, one of Bovet/Dimier’s specialities, with a retrograde perpetual calendar. In addition, this timepiece features reverse hand-fitting (something every Grand Complication from Bovet has), so that the watch can appears as a simple two hand, hours and minutes, watch, and then be reversed to make all the perpetual calendar information available at a glance.
Many times, perpetual calendars are difficult to read as all that information is packed onto the dial, meaning it has to be pretty small. Bovet has changed the layout of the perpetual calendar, so that it is very legible.
On this timepiece, the large tourbillon is in the 6 o’clock position, and the hours and minutes are in a smaller dial above the tourbillon. This way, the rest of the dial on either side of the time display, which has been skeletonized to reveal the movement and its engraving, is left free for the perpetual calendar indications. The large day and month indicators are on sapphire crystal disks to the left and right, respectively, with white letters against a black background to increase legibility. The retrograde date indication appears on a 240 degree arc around the time display, with just the arrow visible, which retrogrades back to one at the end of the month. The leap year and the power reserve indicators are in the 12 o’clock position at the top of the dial.
The result? A finely-crafted tourbillon that provides the traditional perpetual calendar indications while remaining uncluttered and elegant. It helps that all the visible structures of the movement are hand-engraved with a Fleurier pattern.
The Virtuoso III naturally features the Amadeo® convertible system, allowing the timepiece to function as a reversible wristwatch, a pocket watch and a table clock, without the use of any tools.
This magnificent timepiece is available in 39 pieces in red gold and 39 pieces in white gold.
