ur whole endeavour is actually a bet,” says Pascal Raffy, the owner of Bovet, as he welcomes us to the company headquarters in the picturesque Château de Môtiers in Switzerland. “We’re betting that collectors will continue to value our philosophy of quality over quantity. This means continually pushing our mastery of movements and decorations. It also means producing no more than 1,000 pieces a year.”

In 2022 Bovet also celebrated the impressive milestone of 200 years in business. To this day, it is still located within a stone’s throw of where it was founded in 1822, in Fleurier. In the early 1800s, Edouard Bovet set out from the small Swiss town and headed for London to further his knowledge of the watchmaking market. He ended up in Guangzhou, in China, with four pocket watches which he sold almost as soon as he set foot in the Middle Kingdom.

In 2022 Bovet celebrated the impressive milestone of 200 years in business. To this day, it is still located within a stone’s throw of where it was founded in 1822, in Fleurier.

He formed an early connection with what is to this day the Swiss watch industry’s biggest market. It was for the Chinese market specifically that the Bovet brothers crafted some of the most beautifully decorated and horologically advanced pocket watches of the time. Visitors to the 14th century Château de Môtiers have the opportunity to admire some of these incredible works of art, featuring a range of different decorative techniques including cloisonné, flinqué, and champlevé enamelling, assembled for Bovet’s 200th anniversary exhibition.

A portrait of founder Edouard Bovet

The company was so successful that the Chinese words “bo wei” came to mean any highly decorated timepiece! When Pascal Raffy purchased Bovet in 2001, his stated goal was to bring every operation in-house, and he has accomplished this. Today, the manufacture produces 95% of all its components in-house - dials, cases, and movements - even the hairspring and regulating organ, the heart of every mechanical timepiece. The fact that Bovet has control of all these elements means that it is autonomous, a master of its own destiny. It’s no coincidence that one-third of its output is bespoke.

It was for the Chinese market specifically that the Bovet brothers crafted some of the most beautifully decorated and horologically advanced pocket watches of the time. Visitors to the 14th century Château de Môtiers have the opportunity to admire some of these incredible works of art.

Pascal Raffy is committed to continuing Bovet’s tradition of extraordinary decoration and finishing, as well as cutting-edge mechanics. One of the watchmaker’s best-known contemporary breakthroughs is the patented Amadeo case system, launched in 2010, which enables the timepiece to be converted from a wristwatch to a pocket watch, a table clock or even a pendant, while at the same time making it fully reversible.

Bovet’s 200th anniversary exhibition in the picturesque castle of Môtiers

In the last 21 years, Bovet has won more than 40 awards – including the prestigious “Aiguille d’Or” at the GPHG – and has registered more than 16 patents. Nurturing new talent is the key to innovating while upholding the highest traditions, particularly when it comes to finishing, engraving and other artistic crafts.

Pascal Raffy, owner of Bovet

Pascal Raffy dreams of creating an academy of decorative arts for watchmaking: “We’d host four talented young artisans from around the world each year, and give them the opportunity to express their skills on our timepieces.” It would help to ensure that the Bovet legacy lives on for the 200 next years, by preserving that most precious human heritage: craftsmanship.

When Pascal Raffy purchased Bovet in 2001, his stated goal was to bring every operation in-house, and he has accomplished this. Today, the manufacture produces 95% of all its components in-house.

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