Bovet Lights Up with Luminous Château de Môtiers 40
Known for its watches with intricately adorned dials, Bovet 1822 debuts a timepiece that binds tradition and innovation.
The novel Château de Môtiers 40 “Papillon” flutters with a butterfly motif that combines the Swiss horologer’s decorative craftsmanship and modern luminosity.
A perpetuation of the maison’s watchmaking art, the watch features a mother-of-pearl dial with a miniature butterfly that lights up in the dark. The delicate image blazes up as light goes down thanks to layers of luminescent paint.
The butterfly of the Château de Môtiers 40 “Papillon” speaks of the watch’s exquisiteness, which required a painstaking process of refinement. Operating on a miniscule canvas, craftsmen needed to coat the luminous materials in a manner that guaranteed details preserve their richness day and night. Think of this requirement as if the artists needed to simultaneously create two separate paintings and then plaster them together. Doing so, however, presented a challenge. To ensure their work remained meticulous, with each stroke of their brushes, artists had to move from a lit room to a dark one to scrutinize their progress.
While the dial, stripped of any time markers and complications, astonishes with its masterpiece of a decoration, the rest of the watch is equally luxurious. Propelled by a 11BA15 caliber, the 40mm self-winding timepiece boasts an 18k red gold case. The bezel and bow sparkle with 109 round-cut diamonds that cue to Bovet’s gem-setting creativity.
Flaunting almost two century of history, Bovet is renowned for its artisanal techniques like engraving and miniature painting. Since 2006, the horologer’s legacy has charted new grounds with Manufacture Dimier 1738 under the visionary guidance of owner Pascal Raffy. Raffy’s dedication to old-time lavishness and modern practicality has sprouted creations like the Amadeo convertible system, which invokes the 19th-century pocket watches that Bovet produced for the Chinese emperor.
