Miss Audrey Sweet Art by Bovet 1822
The Miss Audrey Sweet Art by Bovet 1822 shares a strong family likeness to the prize-winning watch of 2020, however, it encompasses a very unusual artisanal technique. The brand from Môtiers has suffused the dial with small spheres of sugar using a new innovative process. The sweet crystals remain unaffected by light or heat and bestow a fascinating horological canvas like no other.
The historical Maison of Bovet can trace its origins to 1822 when the company was founded. Along with its sister company, Dimier 1738, the two firms produce numerous components in-house.
Bovet 1822 operates from a fairy-tale castle, Château de Môtiers, where ethereal creations come to life. The castle clings to a hillside, close to the village of Môtiers and overlooks neighbouring Fleurier, a watchmaking enclave that is home to Chopard and Parmigiani Fleurier. It is the presence of highly skilled artisans that have allowed the Manufacture to create peerless exemplars of Haute Horlogerie.
In recent times, the historical brand has also become known for some avant-garde timepieces. For example, the Récital 26 Brainstorm® Chapter Two is housed in a sapphire crystal case that emulates the appearance of a writing desk. It incorporates a ‘double face’ flying tourbillon and features a plethora of indications. The model’s excellence was recognised with the award of a GPHG prize in 2020.
Bovet is also known for making watches endowed with various artistic crafts, including guilloché, hand engraving, miniature painting, to name but a few. Indeed, the brand’s legitimacy in this area can be traced back to the pocket watches it produced in the 19th century. These featured dials adorned with miniature painted scenes and proved especially popular in China.
Now, the Swiss marque has released additional variants of its Miss Audrey model, a timepiece that also won a GPHG prize in 2020. Indeed, I suspect Bovet may be struggling these days to house all of its silverware. Where this latest model, the Miss Audrey Sweet Art by Bovet 1822, differs from other watches is that its dial is formed of spherical balls of sugar. The technique is new, cutting-edge and unique. The balls, or crystals, do not alter even when exposed to light or heat. An artisan applies various small balls, differing in size, to the dial membrane using a brush. This produces solid colours or bewitching horological vistas encompassing different hues which transition from one shade to another.
The Miss Audrey Sweet Art by Bovet 1822 features a self-winding movement, the Calibre 11BA15, finished to the company’s über-refined standards. In addition, the model also includes the brand’s ingenious Amadéo convertible system, allowing the wearer to transform the wristwatch into a table clock or pendant without the need for tools.
While the application of sugar crystals to the model’s dial draws upon new technology, it also perpetuates the centuries-old technique of miniature painting, a skill that has been familiar to Bovet for nearly 200 years.
The brand’s press release (May 2021)
The dial of a timepiece is its face, its window to the world, if you will. Whether you are attracted and intrigued or not is often linked to your impression of the dial first, followed by other details.
Over the course of watchmaking history, watch dials have been made of a number of different materials, all designed to stand out from the crowd. Precious metals, enamel, miniature painting, guilloche, engraving, mother-of-pearl, aventurine, skeleton – you name it and BOVET 1822, with almost 200 years of history, has probably used it for its dials.
The new Miss Audrey Sweet Art, however, uses a completely new material and a new process to create a dial that has never been seen before in watchmaking.
One made from pure sugar.
Representing sweetness and purity, the sugar crystals covering the dial of the Miss Audrey Sweet Art represents a breakthrough in engineering innovation, materials, and miniature painting – all hallmarks of the House of BOVET.
Born in the mind and heart of Mr Pascal Raffy, the owner of the House of BOVET for 20 years this year, the Miss Audrey Sweet Art takes this material and transforms it – all with the goal of capturing the sweetness of love and the purity of a child’s carefree desire for confections.
The process of producing this dial is extraordinarily complex. First, the pure sugar crystals are prepared so their structure will not change when exposed to light or heat (no the sugar crystals will not melt). Then the sweet crystals are chosen for size, then combined with special paints and hand-applied to the dial by one of BOVET’s miniature painting artisans. This demanding process, protected by a patent, leaves no room for error. One misstep and the entire process has to start again.
Thanks to its artisanal and hand-made nature, each and every dial is in effect a piece unique. A variety of colours are available, including solid hues as well as gradients.
The result is an intriguing mix of texture and sparkle, unlike any other dial ever produced in the watchmaking industry.
The special hands of the dial of the Sweet Art are a whimsical, romantic touch. Uniquely shaped, they form a beautiful heart once every hour, as the minute hand catches up to the hour hand, reminding the wearers of the loved ones in their lives.
Winner of the Ladies’ Watch category of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2020 (the watchmaking Oscars), the Miss Audrey model has captured the hearts of collectors all over the world.
The signature 36mm Fleurier Amadéo® convertible case is available in stainless steel hand-set with sparkling white diamonds. The unique and patented Amadéo® case can be transformed into a wristwatch, table clock, or pendant all without the use of any tool.
Powering the Miss Audrey Sweet Art is an automatic movement beating at 4Hz for exemplary chronometry.
At BOVET 1822, the measurement of time is a form of poetry, and the Miss Audrey Sweet Art represents a romantic look at fine watchmaking. Sugar is sweet, and so is the BOVET 1822 Miss Audrey Sweet Art.
Further reading