BOVET Récital 12 Watch Review
The Bovet Récital 12 is the Maison’s ‘first bracelet timepiece ever’. Executed in lightweight Grade 5 titanium, it is optimally designed for daily wear. Mark McArthur-Christie, a man who describes his passion for horology as an ‘affliction’ waxes lyrical about this latest expression of Haute Horlogerie.
Bovet watch
The Watchworld is not a place where things change quickly. Perhaps it’s a by-product of working with time; you realise the corporate desire for ever tighter (and usually confected) deadlines leads to very little except generating more heat than light. So in the time it’s taken the average PLC to put their staff through twelve cultural change programmes, hire and fire three managing directors and redesign the payscales twice, Bovet has made a watch bracelet.
I know which sort of progress I prefer.
Bovet Récital 12 – introduction
Bovet has led with the idea of this being their first bracelet watch, but there’s a lot more going on with the Récital 12 than a new way of keeping it on your wrist. And, typically for the Val-de-Travers firm, you have to look a little closer (and know your watches, at least a little bit) to spot it.
Bovet Récital 12 – skeletonised and inverted movement
On the dial side of the watch, a quick look says ‘Neat – skeletonised movement, offset guilloché dial, plenty of striping and blued screws’. On closer inspection, you might wonder why the movement is the wrong way round.
If you look through the sapphire crystal front of house, rather than seeing the keyless works and the back of the mainplate, you’re presented with the balance, balance cock and the geartrain. Turn the watch over and it doesn’t get any simpler. Where you’d expect to see the balance oscillating back and forth, you see the fourth wheel. Also to the rear, adjacent to the crown, you discover the exposed keyless works sat above a sea of perlage.
It’s a wonderfully elegant way of solving the classic skeletonised movement problem; how do you make the dialside interesting rather than just presenting an openworked plate? Turn the whole movement over. It’s something the firm did 10 years ago with the release of the first Récital.
Bovet Récital 12 – more to see
Bovet has made the view via the exhibition caseback equally engaging. And, for once, you get to see the keyless works in operation. Usually the poor relation, Adrien Philippe’s invention is revealed courtesy of a cutaway plate affording sight of said perlage as well as brushing and mirror-polished screws. There’s more cutting away elsewhere; this time for the fourth wheel. In fact, the fourth wheel gets its own bridge, held with three heat blued screws and a glorious tapered arm to hold its pivot. Given the hand-wound and non-complicated nature of the watch, 45 jewels seems like a high count, but it bodes well for timekeeping and longevity.
The mainspring barrel (more of that later) gets a solid plate that uses a jigsaw piece design to locate it securely into a central plate. Again, everything is held with heat blued screws. A non-watch person probably wouldn’t look past the striping and finishing, but if you’re a movement connoisseur (that’s why you’re here, right?) you’ll keep turning the watch over and over, enjoying the way Bovet has solved the engineering challenges and made the whole thing work together.
Bovet Récital 12 – mainspring and barrel
Now; that mainspring and barrel. Usually, with a hand wound model like this, you’ll be crown-twirling every couple of days to keep things running. Not so here. The mainspring gives you 168 hours of power reserve. Seven days. You’re going to have to take up the guitar just to keep your finger muscles in tone. Flippancy aside, this is important – Bovet intends this watch to be worn every day, so it’s designed to do its job with minimal effort (not that a bit of winding is all that taxing). It’s also the reason for the bracelet…
Bovet Récital 12 – ‘first bracelet timepiece ever’
The Récital 12 has had a bracelet before. In fact, Pascal Raffy unveiled the watch in 2014 with a gold Milanese bracelet; however, this new bracelet differs in three ways; it almost looks integrated, it’s in-house and it’s Grade 5 titanium. Integrated bracelets are quite The Thing at the moment, perhaps inspired by the Genta revival of recent years. This one, with its solid end links, snugs into the sides of the Récital’s case and looks like it was meant to be there from the start.
“…we have had many collectors from all over the world asking for a metal bracelet,” explains Pascal Raffy. “I’m very detail oriented when it comes to comfort and design, so I knew if we did a bracelet, it would have to be as close to perfect as possible. My team and I worked on this timepiece for two full years, going through version after version to get it absolutely right.”
It shows. One of the reasons some individuals prefer straps to bracelets is they offer the facility to let the strap out by a notch – or tighten it – as the wrist expands and contracts throughout the day. Just a few millimetres makes all the difference. So Bovet has engineered a neat expansion mechanism into the clasp that gives you 3 mm of adjustment to play with. It’s not just clever engineering, the bracelet is finished to the sort of standard you’d expect from the prestigious firm. Two faces and the sides of each link are brushed (a finish that works a treat on Grade 5 titanium) with the centres and bevels polished. And rather than squared off joints that always have a gap or are uncomfortable, the end of each link is rounded, fitting into a recess on the next, so the whole thing moves together. It’s perhaps the closest you can get to the comfort of a strap but with far better durability.
Being Grade 5 titanium, you don’t get the heft of a standard bracelet (pick up a stainless one to see the difference), so there’s another straplike upside to this one.
Bovet Récital 12 – Grade 5 titanium case (40 mm)
The case is made from the same material, so it’s far lighter than the traditional Récitals in precious metals. More ticks in the box for being a practical daily wearer. That’s not to say Bovet has cut corners. The case finishing is up there with the traditionally-cased watches and the mirror polished Grade 5 titanium works a treat. In fact, if you didn’t know and hadn’t picked the watch up, you may think the case is platinum.
Bovet Récital 12 – other details
Practically, the Récital gets plus points for a proper screw-on back (a useful 30 m water resistance) and screwed strap bars. This may not be the most expensive watch in Monsieur Raffy’s portfolio, but you still don’t want water in the case or to lose it thanks to a flimsy strap bar.
On the dial side, this is a classic Récital. The offset dial (all in-house) with its 12 hour-banded guilloché and lacquer is as upscale as you’d expect. The details are there too, with the dial held to the movement with more heat blued screws. Just above the dial you’ll find the power reserve indicator. With seven days of power to work through there’s no point trying to watch it move though.
The hands come in two finishes. The triple-armed second hand and the power indicator are both blued steel. The hour and minute hands are polished stainless steel.
Closing remarks
Finally, there’s the price: CHF 24,800 or around £22,300. In a world where sane people baulk at a watch with a four figure price tag, it’s important to remember we are amongst The Afflicted; the sort of people who when asked ‘So, how many watches have you actually got?’ fudge the answer and mumble a bit, just in case people realise we really are nuts. Proper in-house watchmaking, that bracelet and top-end finishing for the price of a new VW Golf. In our world, that makes the new Récital something of a bargain.
Further reading
Technical specification
- Model: Bovet Récital 12
- Case: Grade 5 titanium, diameter 40 mm, water resistance 3 ATM (30 metres); sapphire crystal to front; exhibition case back.
- Functions: hours, minutes, seconds and power reserve indicator
- Movement: Calibre 13BMDR12C2, hand-wound movement, frequency 21,600 vph (3 Hz), 45 jewels, power reserve 7 days.
- Strap: titanium bracelet and folding clasp ardillon. Comfort pusher allowing for 3mm opening
- Price: CHF 24,800 before taxes (RRP as of 19.8.2024)