As Bovet’s CEO, Pascal Raffy, affirmed during a recent Instagram LIVE interview (because finding luxury company CEOs on Instagram is what we’ve come to now); “Bovet has always been, and will continue to be, a watchmaking brand embracing high levels of craftsmanship and exclusivity. We are keeping production at around 800 pieces a year—what we offer cannot be produced anywhere else.”
Simply put, Bovet has always stood for exquisite traditional craftsmanship, elevating watchmaking to an art only few brands can actually reach. In 2020, combined with going digital like the rest of us, Bovet has also unveiled a panoply of new watches that remain loyal to their values of artistic integrity.
Embracing Rich Colours
Initially introduced in 2019, the Récital 26 Brainstorm Chapter One stunned many with its sapphire “writing slope” case, which houses a flying tourbillon and three-dimensional moon-phase. Sapphire, especially for cases, is notoriously difficult to work with—the material requires years of research and development just to shape a certain way, and the inclined, asymmetric nature of the Récital 26 design posed many engineering difficulties. But Pascal Raffy pushed for it, seeing an entirely sapphire case as an innovative development that would only enhance the craftsmanship inside the watch.
And so the Récital 26 Brainstom Chapter One was born, with a sloped sapphire case mounted on a titanium bezel on the back with titanium lugs, highlighting a convex curved dial sitting above a flying tourbillon and the full movement in view. Having been made initially available with a “propeller” shaped dial, Bovet has since come out with blue and green quartz dials, with now in 2020 a red quartz dial joining the family. Embracing rich colours in this sapphire beauty enlivens the watch like no other, only complimenting the carefully decorated movement components around it.
Another example of Bovet embracing colours is the focus on incorporating a vibrant forest green throughout their collections, most notably in the Miss Audrey and Monsieur Bovet collections. The “his-and-hers” pieces are perhaps two of the most well-known Bovet watches for their patented Amadéo® convertible case, where the simultaneous press of two cabochons at the top “bow” of the case releases the top strap and with another manoeuvre of the rear bezel releases the bottom strap. This makes the Miss Audrey and the Monsieur Bovet watches convertible to be worn either on the wrist, a pendant, as a pocket watch or even as a table clock.
The Miss Audrey dial features a stunning guilloché motif that is then lacquered with a deep green colour, available in a 36mm diamond-set stainless-steel case and a matching long jade necklace or a green strap (either satin or alligator). The guilloché and green lacquer also decorate the Monsieur Bovet dials, one on each side of the case, with the guilloché modelled after a lotus with 12 petals—symbolising the 12 hours counted on the dials—a symbol for Bovet since 1822. Unlike the Miss Audrey, the Monsieur Bovet is available in a 43mm case of either 18K red or white gold.
Green is also now available in the Virtuoso VII collection now, with a limited edition in red or white gold presented in 2020. The incredible watch, featuring a retrograde perpetual calendar, double coaxial second hand and the same Amadéo® convertible case as present in the Miss Audrey and Monsieur Bovet collections, is one of Bovet’s most complicated watches. It houses a hand-wound movement with a 5-day power reserve, displaying hours, minutes, sub-seconds, retrograde date, month, leap year, power-reserve indicator on just ONE side of the watch, with the hours, minutes, and seconds on the reverse. Every component is decorated, showcasing the traditional craftsmanship Bovet uses, with the plate and bridges specifically hand-engraved with the “Fleurisanne” pattern.
Highlighting craftmanship
Customisation and exclusivity have been founding pillars for Bovet, always attentive to their clients’ desires. Presented in 2015 only in steel at first, the 19Thirty Fleurier features a 42mm case with a dial layout inspired by “easel” chronometers of the 1930’s, where the hour and minute dial was slightly overlapped by a seconds subdial below, forming an eight shape. The overall design remains very symmetrical, with the 7-day power reserve indicator on the right of the dial mirrored on the left (though the left doesn’t indicate the power reserve, but instead can bear an inscription), and the dials are hugged by symmetric “Fleurisanne” engraving. For added customisation, the engraving can by lacquered according to the client’s preference, as well as the dial colour. This new version for 2020, for example, displays blue “Fleurisanne” engraving with matching blue dials—but the watch remains, of course, customisable to any of your wants, even down to whether you’d like hour markers, Arab numerals or Roman numerals on the dial.
In that spirit of providing pieces as unique as each individual client, Bovet also announced earlier this year the Ateliers Bovet concept, focusing on the personalisation of each watch through engraving, miniature painting and innovative watchmaking technology. Considering 30% of all the watches Bovet produces are unique pieces (according to the brand), the ones produced within the Ateliers Bovet concept allow the client to personalise the watch down to a micro-level. The first watch presented out of Ateliers Bovet is the Virtuoso X Tourbillon, with limited availability to 10 pieces.
The Virtuoso X Tourbillon features a patented flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock and a three distinct time zones. Local time is at the centre of the dial as well as on the reverse (should you choose to switch dial side if you’re on local time), while two secondary time zones are displayed on either side of the front dial. The secondary time zones are hand-painted hemispheres of the globe, with the city corresponding to the part of the globe above each time zone—each time zone, of course, as chosen by the client.
