BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
Bovet has been on a bit of a creative streak since, well, since forever, really. The last watch of their we covered, the Virtuoso VIII Chapter Two Reimagined, struck a few chords with some of you and missed the mark entirely with others. It’s interesting to see such a split from our readers. Normally you guys seem to be fairly of the same opinion (nothing wrong with that), so let’s see how you fair with Bovet’s latest releases. The Swiss brand has updated three of its modern classics with new turquoise guilloché dials. Let’s take a look.
The first piece is the Monsieur Bovet, a watch with a whole load of possible configurations. This takes the flippable concept of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso to another level, as you can flip this piece over to display either of its two sides (both of which have a time display on), you can wear it with a pendant chain so it can sit as a pocket watch or a pendant fastened to an outfit, or you can flip the watch out of its case and angle it so it is a desk clock.
I feel that, with the new turquoise dial, the watch looks a little too feminine for my tastes with the two-handed dial on display. I’d wear it the other way round, so you can see some of the mechanism and movement finishing too. Other than those unique dials, the watch is unchanged, so you’re getting a choice between a 43mm x 12.35mm red gold case and a hand-wound movement with a 7-day power reserve. The price is CHF53,000 in red gold or CHF56,000 in white gold, both are limited to 60 pieces each.
The second piece is the Récital 23, Bovet’s first women’s watch to use a sloped case. This automatically-wound piece features the turquoise dial front and lower-centre, with ten set diamonds as the hour markers. The hour and minute hands form the shape of a heart when aligned properly, and there are a total of 246 set diamonds on the case and bezel and a cabochon in the crown.
As well as the lotis-motif turquoise guilloché, there’s also a 3D moonphase with a realistic hand-engraved texture. The moonphase and hands also have received a treatment of SuperLumiNova for use at night. To further aid practicality, the calibre inside the watch has a 62-hour power reserve which is more than enough for an automatic watch. With a case measuring 43mm x 38.7mm x 14.4mm coming in either red or white gold, it’s an elegant piece for an elegant woman. The price starts at CHF55,000.
The final piece is Récital 27. A watch based for going places and Bovet’s idea of travelling, the Récital 27 appears to be an extremely complex piece, but once you figure out that it’s actually three timezones cleverly laid out over one dial, it starts to become clearer. A central pair of hands cross over two smaller dials, each with an hours, minutes and day/night display. Around the back are a power reserve indicator and a seconds hand. There’s also a large moonphase at 6 O’clock, which needs to be set once every 122 years, assuming the watch is still running.
The watch case is in Bovet’s signature “writing desk” case, which is thicker at the top than at the bottom, so it ends up being angled towards you on the wrist. This watch is hefty at 46.5mm in diameter and 15.95mm at the thickest point. Because it’s hand-wound, it has a power reserve of 7 days. Like the other models, the standout feature is the application of turquoise on the small time dials, but the real attention grabber is the price. It’s CHF70,000 in titanium or CHF75,000 in red gold. Both are limited to 60 pieces worldwide.
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