Bovet Fleurier 19Thirty with a Rich Red Guilloché Dial

In Bovet’s cosmos of extravagant complications, the Fleurier 19Thirty might be more straightforward on the mechanical front, offering ‘just’ hours, minutes and small seconds, but it is still faithful to the brand’s lavish execution and dramatic staging. For 2021, the Fleurier 19Thirty appears with a rich red guilloché dial and the hallmark pocket-watch inspired case with a crown and bow at 12 o’clock in a choice of luxurious red gold or stainless steel.

19Thirty

The 19Thirty collection gets its name from a 1930s Bovet pocket watch belonging to Pascal Raffy, owner of Bovet since 2001. Known as the ‘easel’ chronometer because of the extractable stand on the caseback allowing the pocket watch to double up as a table clock, the shape of the crown and bow, and the layout of the dial of the 19Thirty models, are inspired by this 1930s ancestor. Introduced in 2015, Pascal Raffy conceived the 19Thirty as an ‘everyday’ watch – and once you’ve seen the formidable complications and opulence of Bovet’s timepieces, you can see why he would choose that adjective.

The crown and hinged bow at 12 o’clock are signature design features of the Fleurier case. To underscore the predominantly red colour scheme of this model, red sapphires have been inserted in the crown, the bow and even on the tips of the lower lugs. Beautifully polished throughout, the case measures a contemporary 42mm with a slim profile of just 9.05mm.

Framed by the brightly polished bezel, the time indications are relayed in an off-centred hours and minutes counter with Roman numerals that intersects a smaller seconds counter with Arabic numbers. Forming an upside-down figure eight, this lucky number’s symbolism will not be lost on Chinese customers whom the brand has been courting since the mid-19^th century.

Like all dials at Bovet, the scenery ripples with texture and different planes. Instead of the classic Fleurisanne engraving featured on other 19Thirty models, this new model stages the time counters against a slate grey, almost black background decorated with circular Côtes de Genève. The contrast between the dark wavy background and the intense red guilloché decoration of the dial is striking. At 3 and 9 o’clock, two circular depressions add more relief to the scenery: the one at 3 o’clock houses the power-reserve indicator and the one on the right is opened on the barrel adding to the symmetry of the dial.

Executed by hand by Bovet’s expert artisans, the base of the time counters is decorated with guilloché to form the elegant pattern that fans out from the centre. The engraved area is then filled with layer after layer of translucent red lacquer. Once it has dried, it is polished to create a uniform surface that catches the light to reveal its subtle furrows and grooves.

Manual-winding movement

A sapphire caseback reveals the beautiful in-house calibre 15BM04, a manual-winding movement with an exceptionally long power reserve of seven days on just one barrel. Like pocket watch movements, the generous 15 ¾ ligne calibre (35.53mm) fills all the available space. The symmetry on the dial is echoed on the movement, and the finishes are in line with Bovet’s high level of craftsmanship with blued screws, perlage on the mainplate and Geneva stripes arching over the bridges.

Availability & price

The Fleurier 19Thirty with a red dial is available in steel or red gold and a choice of black or red alligator straps with a steel or red gold ardillon buckle. Like all Bovet’s watches, there are countless customisation possibilities. The red gold model (Ref. NTR0046) retails for CHF 34,600, the steel (Ref.NTS0046) for CHF 22,700.

For more details, please visit Bovet.