Bovet
- Founded
- 1822
- Based in
- Môtiers, Switzerland
- In our catalog
- 1 watch from $430,000 to $480,000
Bovet is the kind of watch brand most people never see in person. It makes a few thousand watches a year at most, many of them highly decorated, with hand engraving, miniature painting and complicated movements built in-house. The style is ornate and unapologetic, closer to the pocket watches of the nineteenth century than to modern minimalism.
History
Edouard Bovet and his brothers founded the company in 1822 to make richly decorated pocket watches for export to China, which was then a major market for Swiss watches. The name "Bovet" became so well known there that it was used as a general word for a watch. The business faded as that trade declined and changed hands several times in the twentieth century.
In 2001 Pascal Raffy, a collector, bought the brand and set about rebuilding it as a full manufacture. He acquired the movement maker Dimier and other specialist workshops, and based the company at the Château de Môtiers in the Val-de-Travers. Bovet now makes its own movements, cases and dials, and its watches regularly win prizes for complications and craftsmanship.
Signature models
- Récital 26 Brainstorm: Part of the Récital line, with Bovet's sloping, writing-desk-shaped case and large sapphire panels designed to show off the movement and complications.
- Amadeo Fleurier: A convertible case that can be worn on the wrist, used as a pocket watch or set up as a table clock, a Bovet trademark.
- Virtuoso: Decorative pieces with engraved and painted dials in the old export style.
What it's known for
Bovet watches often have the crown at 12 o'clock like a pocket watch, and the Amadeo case lets one watch be worn three ways. Hand engraving covers movements and cases, and the brand's tourbillons are often displayed front and center. It's a niche taste, but no one does it quite like Bovet.
Price and positioning
Bovet sits at the top of haute horlogerie. Simpler pieces start in the tens of thousands, and complicated ones like the Récital 26 Brainstorm cost several hundred thousand dollars. Most Bovet buyers already own the big names and want something rarer and more personal.
Bovet watches in our library
- Bovet Récital 26 Brainstorm ($430,000 to $480,000)