atches are designed to write the time before our very eyes. So why not base its shape on a writing slope? Starting from this simple idea, Bovet 1822 developed its famous case in the shape of a sloped writing desk, which offers an inclined area making it easy to read and capable of enclosing three-dimensional components. Consequently, the manufacture (a well-deserved designation, since Bovet 1822 manufactures virtually all its parts in-house, including the hairspring) has been able to produce numerous variations on the display theme, with rollers, domes, discs and three-dimensional hands. In this sense, the “writing slope” case creates a stage for the movement and its indications.

RÉCITAL 26 BRAINSTORM® CHAPTER ONE

Dimier “writing desk” case, 48mm x15.50mm, in sapphire with titanium lugs and caseback. Full grain alligator strap with 18K white gold pin buckle. Water resistance 30m. Hours, minutes, seconds on tourbillon, big date, power reserve indicator, hemispherical moon phase indicator. Guarantee 5 years. Three patents: spherical winding system, tri-dimensional toothing with multiple gearing. Double-face flying tourbillon.

This characteristic is used to particular advantage in the new Récital 26 Brainstorm® Chapter One, with its all-transparent, sapphire, inclined case – a bold and complex technical feat given the asymmetric profile of the middle, which forms a single element with the crystal. The only exception is the back, which consists of a grade-5 titanium bezel that holds a sapphire crystal and four grade-5 titanium horns. The movement is fixed directly to the back, and not to the middle. This makes the timepiece perfectly transparent, the better to display the three-dimensional spectacle of the movement and indications.

The movement is regulated by a double-face flying tourbillon with a variable inertia balance that draws its energy from a single barrel which provides a power reserve of 10 days. Manual rewinding is made easier by a differential winding system that halves the number of turns of the crown required.

Above the tourbillon, under the highest section of the tilted case, the hours and minutes are displayed offcentre, with a particularly high hand-fitting. Above this suspended dial is a moon phase in the shape of an engraved dome, into which are set two circular aventurine glass plates (the moon of the northern and southern hemispheres). Above these are two circular apertures that indicate the moon’s phases. Placed at 4 o’clock, the power reserve indicator is a crescentshaped gauge, while at 8 o’clock a large date appears in a circular aperture, the mechanism of which is visible. Let the show commence. In all transparency. CHF 295,000