Bovet: Récital 18 Shooting Star

Pascal Raffy and his watchmakers did it again. One of the absolute star of 2016 watchmaking world is the Récital 18 Shooting Star Tourbillon. When unveiled, all internet and social media went completely crazy.

5-days power reserve, 60 seconds tourbillon, hemispheric universal worldwide time with selectable time zone and ultra-compact 24 cities indicator, hemispheric precision moon phase, jumping hours and retrograde minutes, just to give you an idea in few words of how complicated is this masterpiece.

A first hemisphere was thus chosen to represent the Earth and enable the reading of universal time, which is displayed in three dimensions at 3 o’clock. At its tip, a concentric ring displays the time in the chosen time zone, while the name of the city corresponding to that time zone appears on one of the two concentric rollers indexed to the hemisphere.

Two circular apertures follow the curve of this lunar globe and indicate the age of the moon as seen from the northern and southern hemispheres respectively. The moon phase indicator is driven by a highly precise mechanism that only requires correction by one day every 122 years.

The hemispherical representation of universal time and that of the moon phases requires a particular construction in order to meet the qualitative and esthetic norms that are the hallmarks of BOVET 1822. Each hemisphere is therefore machined in a single piece and their surfaces engraved with the correct relief. The oceans are then filled with luminescent blue material. The craters on the moon are all in white luminous material while the sky and space glow a deep blue in the darkness.

These two hemispheres occupy the space at 3 o’clock for universal time and at 9 o’clock for the moon phase indicator. Logically enough, the watchmakers used the space at 12 o’clock to display the hours and minutes and the power reserve.

A flat sapphire disc displays the hours, which are revealed when positioned on a lacquered plate. This digital display makes for easy and immediate reading of the time. In the center of the display, a curved dial displays the exceptional five-day power reserve. A third stratum dominates this ensemble. This section indicates the minutes by means of a retrograde hand.

To drive all of the complications, the two barrels generate five days of power reserve, all controlled by a tourbillon balance oscillating at 21,600 vph.

Before the Récital 18 Shooting Star® Tourbillon, the notion of infinity was defined by two closely related concepts alone: space and time. To these we must now add the passion of Pascal Raffy and the craftsmen of the House of BOVET, which has once again proved that it has no limits.

By Jacopo Corvo