Bovet
Fleurier Virtuoso XI

BOVET’s first skeleton timepiece in its more than 200-year history.

FOR ALL TO SEE

People all over the world love to admire the mechanical mastery of a high watchmaking movement. Fascinated by the spinning and turning of the tourbillon, they delight in the intricacy of the gears, the sensuous lines of the bridges, the finishing on the plates, and in every spectacular detail. It stands to reason that skeletonized timepieces particularly appeal, for they put all the mechanical complexity on full display. In the years since Mr. Pascal Raffy took the helm of BOVET in 2001, he has insisted on making sure the movement is visible, its high watchmaking pedigree open to be admired, while at the same time reinforcing the House’s commitment to the decorative arts. Given this focus on mechanical artistry, it might seem a bit surprising that the BOVET Fleurier Virtuoso XI is the very first full skeleton timepiece the House has ever introduced.People all over the world love to admire the mechanical mastery of a high watchmaking movement. Fascinated by the spinning and turning of the tourbillon, they delight in the intricacy of the gears, the sensuous lines of the bridges, the finishing on the plates, and in every spectacular detail. It stands to reason that skeletonized timepieces particularly appeal, for they put all the mechanical complexity on full display. In the years since Mr. Pascal Raffy took the helm of BOVET in 2001, he has insisted on making sure the movement is visible, its high watchmaking pedigree open to be admired, while at the same time reinforcing the House’s commitment to the decorative arts. Given this focus on mechanical artistry, it might seem a bit surprising that the BOVET Fleurier Virtuoso XI is the very first full skeleton timepiece the House has ever introduced.

And what a skeleton it is.And what a skeleton it is.

HAND-FINISHING

The first step once the components are produced is to finish them all by hand. They are beveled in preparation for the next step, the engraving. The finishing is all done thanks to the expertise of the artisans, who know just how much material they should remove to achieve the perfect symmetry and shape. Some of the parts can take hours to bevel to get them just right. Remove too much material and the piece has to be discarded and the process starts over.

TRADITIONAL HAND-ENGRAVING

Metal engraving has been around since the 5th century, usually as a way to signify wealth and to add decoration to jewelry and other objects. BOVET first engraved movements and cases in the early 1800s, and in fact was the first House to use an exhibition back, as customers loved to admire the highly-decorated movements.

Keeping this tradition alive, BOVET has a complete hand-engraving and finishing workshop within the Tramelan manufacture. The Fleurier Virtuoso XI was realized in this workshop, done just as it was performed hundreds of years ago. The only difference is that the gravers and chisels, which are often handmade by the artisans themselves, are more effective and use today’s metals, and the work is done through modern microscopes.

The engravers at BOVET love a challenge, and the start of the engraving for the Fleurier Virtuoso XI — both sides of the components are engraved, something never done before — resulted in a lot of consternation, wringing hands, shaking heads, and repeated use of the word folle (French for “crazy”). Once they started, however, the artisans took up the gauntlet and the finished movement is a triumph of the human touch and the artistry of the engraver.