Bovet was founded in 1822 by Édouard Bovet (1797–1849), a watchmaker from Fleurier in Switzerland’s Val-de-Travers, whose ornate pocket watches were sold widely in China, where the Bovet name became a byword for a watch and was even used as a trade currency. The modern company took shape when collector Pascal Raffy became sole owner of Bovet Fleurier SA in 2001. In 2006 he acquired the movement manufacture Dimier 1738, which produces the brand’s calibres, and he bought back the Château de Môtiers, a 14th-century castle once owned by the Bovet family, which now houses watchmaking workshops. The company is headquartered in Fleurier and competes as Bovet 1822.
Bovet’s design draws on its pocket-watch past. The Fleurier collection places the crown and bow at 12 o’clock as a reference to the brand’s historical pocket watches, while the Dimier collection uses a more conventional crown at 3 o’clock. The Récital series carries the most complex pieces. The Récital 28 Prowess 1, which combines a perpetual calendar, a 10-day power reserve and a world-time display on 24 city rollers that accounts for daylight saving time, won the Mechanical Exception Prize at the 2024 GPHG. Its 2025 successor, the Récital 30, a world timer using 26 rollers to show 25 time zones through the year, won the Men’s Complication Prize at the 2025 GPHG.
