WT_2009_06: PROFILE: BOVET FLEURIER

PROFILEBovet Fleurierthing with Aigat SA, which specializesin precision embossing tools and sparkerosion for material removal. Today,more than 70 employees work at Dimier1738.Raffy also took an 81 percent interestin the dial-maker Valor & Lopez in 2006.The company, now called Dimier 1738Manufacture Artisanal de Cadrans et deSertissages, is located in Plan-les-Ouatesoutside Geneva and specializes in enamel,pavé, mother-of-pearl and manually guilloché-embellisheddials, as well as gemstonesetting.That same year, 2006, Raffy learnedthat the Château de Môtiers, which datesfrom the 13th century, was for sale. Thechâteau is located in Môtiers, next toFleurier, and stands atop a wooded hilloverlooking Fleurier. The appeal forRaffy was that it once belonged to theBovet family. He purchased it in 2007.After extensive renovations, it opened in2008 and houses a watchmaking workshopwith 20 employees. It will eventuallybecome the headquarters of the Bovetfirm. It marks the realization of Raffy’sdream to return Bovet to its roots in Valde-Travers.TODAY RAFFY’S BOVET 1822 Groupproduces 2,000 watches a year, ranging inprice from $12,500 to $900,000. Thecore brand is Bovet 1822, whichcomes in two collections,Fleurier and Sportster. Typicalof the Fleurier collectionof complicatedwatches is the newComplications 47 mm,a watch featuring twoof what Bovet calls its“star” complications,the tourbillon andjumping hour. It containsBovet’s ownself-winding, sevendaytourbillon movement(Caliber 13BA05made by Dimier). It hasa number of distinctiveBovet features: a tourbilloncage in the shape of a lotusblossom, the Bovet corporateemblem; serpentine handson the subdials; and the Fleurierstyledecoration (called fleurisanne) of engravedbridges. Bovet will produce 50pieces: prices are $195,000 for the rosegoldmodel and $199,000 for the whitegoldone. Bovet also creates one-of-a-kindpieces, with enamel dials, in the Fleuriercollection.The Sportster collection, as the nameimplies, is for Bovet’s sportier designs.New this year are Sportster Saguarochronographs with meteorite dials($19,800 to $39,500). Bovet also introduceda tourbillon into the Sportster linethis year. The Saguaro Tourbillon has an18k-rose-gold case with black PVD titaniuminserts on the side and a rubberstrap. The tourbillion movement is the inhouseCaliber 13BA05. The watch comesin three sizes: 40-, 45- and 51-mm, pricedfrom $140,000 to $151,000.In 2007, Raffy introduced a secondbrand called Dimier, consisting of highlycomplicated limited-edition pieces withthe crown in the traditional position at 3o’clock. The company introduces onenew Dimier piece a year under the nameThis minute repeater withmother-of-pearl dial and whitetiger painting is one of about400 one-of-a-kind pieces Bovetmanufactures per year.Bovet put its in-house tourbillon in the SportsterSaguaro collection for the first time this year.166 WatchTime December 2009