Bovet’s Timelessly Intricate Virtuoso VII Retrograde Perpetual Calendar
Image: Bovet.
An esteemed Swiss manufacturer of luxury timepieces since 1822, Bovet introduced its latest design, the Virtuoso VII Retrograde Perpetual Calendar, a third of the Amadeo Fleurier Complications collection. Functional as both a pocket watch and a wristwatch, this exquisite model continues the house’s tradition launched by its founding father, Edouard Bovet, who was dedicated to pocket watches catered the Chinese market in the 19th century. Today, Virtuoso VII’s exceptional quality can be attributed to its painstakingly detailed and accurate display of the hours, minutes, seconds, power reserve, and the perpetual calendar—which in itself includes day, date, and month as well as the leap year cycle with an accuracy that requires no adjustments for 400 years.
Image: Bovet.
In order to succinctly demonstrate and condense such information onto a miniscule surface, Pascal Raffy, the owner of Bovet, utilized the Amadeo convertible system that allows the piece to be dual-faced with two distinct faces on its emblematic case. The first face displays the central dial with hours and minutes, the power reserve, and the perpetual calendar around the periphery of the center on sapphire discs; the leap year cycle disk at 12 o’clock finalizes the calendar information. Reverse it, and the second face presents an off-centered dial with hours and minutes at 12 o’clock, elegantly completed with circular Côtes de Genève. The exquisite construction of Virtuoso VII Retrograde Perpetual Calendar once more validates Bovet’s passion for Haute Horlogerie and the unparalleled expertise of its artisans that have successfully garnered admiration from connoisseurs and collectors for almost two centuries.
