Bovet Fleurier

Infobox Company
name = Bovet Fleurier SA

type = Privately held company
foundation = May 1st, 1822
founder = Edouard Bovet
location_city = Tramelan
location_country = Switzerland
industry = Watchmaking
products = Wristwatches

Bovet Fleurier SA is a Swiss brand of luxury watchmakers founded in 1822 in London, U.K. by Edouard Bovet. It is most famous for its pocket watches manufactured for the Chinese market in the 19th century. It currently produces high-end artistic watches with a style that references its history, and is known for its high-quality enameling, engraving, and its eight-day tourbillon. The original Bovet watches are also famous for being one of the first watches to emphasize the beauty of the movements with its skeletonized views and highly decorative movements. They were also one of the first to include a second-hand. [Bovet Fleurier, SA. [http://www.bovet-fleurier.ch/ Bovet 1822] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] Bovet has a tradition of employing women artisans, which is rare for traditional watch making companies in Europe. [American Watch Guild. [http://www.americanwatchguild.com/manufacturer_detail.php?id=308 Bovet] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] Pascal Raffy is the current owner and president, and Roy Davidoff is the president of Bovet USA. [Horomundi. [http://www.horomundi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3716 The Dimier Watch Launch Party in NY with Pascal Raffy] . December 18, 2007. Accessed July 5, 2008.]

History

Fleurier, home of Bovet

Watch making was introduced to Fleurier by Daniel-Jean-Jacques-Henri Vaucher, was was an apprentice of Daniel Jaenrichard, in 1730. At the time the area was known for metal working, a natural result of the iron deposits discovered in the area in the 15th century. Watchmaking flourished in the area in the late 18th century. But because of the practice of selling production on credit, which was then sold on international markets, and which resulted in the undercutting of prices, and because of the destabilization of the Napoleonic wars, watch making in Fleurier experienced a huge decrease. [Christophe Roulet. 2007. [http://journal.hautehorlogerie.org/en/passion/in-history/bovet-pioneer-on-the-road-to-china.html Bovet, a Pioneer on the Road to China] . Le Journal de law Haute Horlogerie. Accessed July 5, 2008.] Fleurier's fame as a watch making centre is attributed to Bovet. [Carlos Perez. November 25, 2002. [http://www.timezone.com/library/cjrml/cjrml631738653492812500 Timezone.com] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] By the mid-19th century Fleurier produced watches almost exclusively for the Chinese market.

The founder

Edouard Bovet (1797-1849) was the son of the watchmaker Jean-Frederic Bovet. He studied the art with his father in Fleurier, but in 1814 left his home for political reasons with two of his brothers, Alphonse and Frederic, to study watch making in London, U.K. After studying in London for a few years with Ilbury and Magniac, Magniac sent him to Canton, China in 1818. Almost as soon as he arrived he was able to sell four of his watches for the equivalent of USD $1 million in 2008 currency. [Alan Downing and Thierry Oulevay. [http://www.rawbw.com/~hbv/horology/bovethis.html Background to Bovet] . Accessed July 5, 2008.]

The 19th century: Founding of the company and China

The original Bovet company was founded in London in 1822 by Edouard Bovet. [Bovet Fleurier, SA. [http://www.bovet-fleurier.ch/ Bovet 1822] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] When the company was founded, it was for the express purpose of manufacturing watches exclusively for the Chinese market. [Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie. [http://www.hautehorlogerie.org/en/players/brands/bovet-fleurier/bovet-fleurier.html Bovet Fleurier] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] It is guessed that the establishment of Bovet in London was because of the ease of shipping the watches to China on frequent English ships. [Vince Ho. June 10, 1998. [http://www.rawbw.com/~hbv/horology/chinese.html The Chinese Market Watch] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] Edouard's brothers, Alphonse and Frederic, stayed in London to manage the shipping, and another brother Charles-Henri managed manufacturing in Fleurier, while Edouard developed the market in Canton. [Alan Downing and Thierry Oulevay. [http://www.rawbw.com/~hbv/horology/bovethis.html Background to Bovet] . Accessed July 5, 2008.]

Bovet was not the first nor the only company to target the Chinese watch market. They shared it with Ilbury, Jaques Ullmann, and Vacheron Constantin, among others. In fact, Edouard Bovet discovered the potential of the Chinese market as a student of Ilbery in London, from whom he borrowed some design ideas. But while Vacheron Constantin dominated the market of imperial northern China (since 1820), Bovet dominated that of the more populous southern China. [Vince Ho. June 10, 1998. [http://www.rawbw.com/~hbv/horology/chinese.html The Chinese Market Watch] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] It is said that to this day Bovet continues to have a privileged relationship with China. [Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie. March 30, 2007. [http://www.stadlin-swissmade.com/pdf/The-emperors-new%20clocks-Centre-Culturel-de-la-Haute-Horlogerie-Stadlin.pdf The Emperors New Clocks] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] This 19th century market was predated by a few Jesuit watch makers as early as the 15th century, but by the early 19th century the watch making in China had become of such a low quality, that the European treasures were very quickly appreciated. [Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie. March 30, 2007. [http://www.stadlin-swissmade.com/pdf/The-emperors-new%20clocks-Centre-Culturel-de-la-Haute-Horlogerie-Stadlin.pdf The Emperors New Clocks] . Accessed July 5, 2008.]

Bovet became so popular in China, notwithstanding their great price, that they had to contract with other Swiss manufacturers such as Guinand to help them meet the demand. [Vince Ho. June 10, 1998. [http://www.rawbw.com/~hbv/horology/chinese.html The Chinese Market Watch] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] Even though Juvet Fleurier also sold pieces in China, it was not uncommon to see Bovet pieces with a Juvet movement. [Vince Ho. June 10, 1998. [http://www.rawbw.com/~hbv/horology/chinese.html The Chinese Market Watch] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] In the 1830's they established a manufacturing facility in Canton (Guangzhou) as well, but because of the restrictions enforced as a result of the Opium Wars, they had to close that facility and open a smaller one in Macau. [Vince Ho. June 10, 1998. [http://www.rawbw.com/~hbv/horology/chinese.html The Chinese Market Watch] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] It was about this time that the company created a Chinese name to more effectively market to the middle class. The Chinese name for Bovet, "Bo Wei," became a common noun for watch in China for many years. [RobbReport.com. [http://www.robbreport.com/archived-issues/Article.aspx?article=14209 21 Ultimate Gifts: Times Two] . December 2007. Accessed July 5, 2008.]

But the market in China for the watches collapsed around 1855 because of competition from France and the United States, and because there were a tremendous number of Chinese-made counterfeits. [Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie. [http://www.hautehorlogerie.org/en/players/brands/bovet-fleurier/bovet-fleurier.html Bovet Fleurier] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] By 1864 the problems caused by the exploitative Opium War caused the Bovet family to sell their interest in the company. [Carlos Perez. November 25, 2002. [http://www.timezone.com/library/cjrml/cjrml631738653492812500 Timezone.com] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] They sold the company to their manufacturing inspectors in Fleurier, Jules Jequier, and Ernest Bobillier, who were soon joined by Ami Leuba. [Alan Downing and Thierry Oulevay. [http://www.rawbw.com/~hbv/horology/bovethis.html Background to Bovet] . Accessed July 5, 2008.]

Into the 20th century: Beyond China

After the virtual close of the Chinese market, Bovet continued to manufacture pocket watches, though at a much reduced rate, and would frequently offer its manufacturing services on a contract basis to other watch companies. The Landry Freres purchased Bovet in 1888 but did not invest in it. [Wristwatch Resource. [http://www.wristwatchresource.com/watch_companies_b.htm Watch Companies] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] In 1901 the Bovet trademark was sold at auction in Paris to Cesar and Charles Leuba, sons of Ami Leuba. [Alan Downing and Thierry Oulevay. [http://www.rawbw.com/~hbv/horology/bovethis.html Background to Bovet] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] Jacques Ullmann and Co., another successful produce of watches for the Chinese market, purchased the Bovet brand in 1918. After Jacques Ullmann went out of business in 1932, the Bovet name was acquired by Albert and Jean Bovet, who were successful watch makers and registered severl patents for chronographs, such as a mono rattrapante--a device that would pause the second hand for a reading while the mechanism continued to run. [Alan Downing and Thierry Oulevay. [http://www.rawbw.com/~hbv/horology/bovethis.html Background to Bovet] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] The company Favre-Leuba purchased the name and manufacturing facilities from the Bovet brothers in 1948. [Alan Downing and Thierry Oulevay. [http://www.rawbw.com/~hbv/horology/bovethis.html Background to Bovet] . Accessed July 5, 2008.]

Favre-Leuba stopped producing Bovet branded watches in 1950, and then only manufactured its own branded watches from the facilities it acquired from the Bovet brothers. [Alan Downing and Thierry Oulevay. [http://www.rawbw.com/~hbv/horology/bovethis.html Background to Bovet] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] Favre-Leuba sold the Bovet brand and facilities in 1966 to a cooperative of individual watch makers. [Carlos Perez. November 25, 2002. [http://www.timezone.com/library/cjrml/cjrml631738653492812500 Timezone.com] . Accessed July 5, 2008.]

The modern company

In 1989 Parmigiani Fleurier purchased Bovet and registers the trademark for "all watchmaking products, mechanical watches and clocks and naval instruments, of Swiss origin" but no Bovet branded timepieces were produced. [Alan Downing and Thierry Oulevay. [http://www.rawbw.com/~hbv/horology/bovethis.html Background to Bovet] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] Parmigiani sold Bovet in 1990 to investors, and Bovet Fleurier SA was established, however no watches were actually manufactured by the company until after it was acquired by Roger Guye and Thierry Ouelevay in 1994, who opened a branch office in Geneva. [Carlos Perez. November 25, 2002. [http://www.timezone.com/library/cjrml/cjrml631738653492812500 Timezone.com] . Accessed July 5, 2008. and Alan Downing and Thierry Oulevay. [http://www.rawbw.com/~hbv/horology/bovethis.html Background to Bovet] . Accessed July 5, 2008.]

The company was acquired by Pascal Raffy, its current president, on February 6, 2006. [Bovet Fleurier, SA. [http://www.bovet-fleurier.ch/ Bovet 1822] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] Later that year Mr. Raffy also purchased a number of other local companies, such as those in the STT group, which produced various watch elements, in order to obtain complete control over the quality of all phases of the watch crafting process. There are currently about 70 employees of Bovet Fleurier SA, and the company only produces about 2,000 watches a year. [Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH. [http://www.fhs.ch/en/news/news.php?id=481 Bovet A Genuine Manufacture] . Swiss Watch News, August 30, 2006. Accessed June 5, 2008.] Some modern Bovet watches have also fitted with mechanisms manufactured by Vaucher Manufacture, a company that also supplied watches to the Chinese market in the 19th century. [Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH. [http://www.fhs.ch/en/news/news.php?id=278 Parmigiani and Vaucher Manufacture Vertical Integration a Step Closer] . Swiss Watch News, November 20, 2003. Accessed June 5, 2008.] Bovet spends very little to advertise and prefers to have private salons for clients instead of attending public fairs. [QP Magazine. [http://www.qpmagazine.com/default.aspx?ArticleId=83480&IssueID=1450&anchor=true#openHere Bovet Eastern Promise] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] About a third of the watches it manufactures are made to order and are one of a kind. [American Watch Guild. [http://www.americanwatchguild.com/manufacturer_detail.php?id=308 Bovet] . Accessed July 5, 2008. and Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie. [http://www.hautehorlogerie.org/en/players/brands/bovet-fleurier/bovet-fleurier.html Bovet Fleurier] . Accessed July 5, 2008.]

Watches

Legacy of the Bovet style

Bovet watches require much artistic detail, and the company gives the artisans a great deal of independence in creating the elements of the watches, and thus encourages creativity. [American Watch Guild. [http://www.americanwatchguild.com/manufacturer_detail.php?id=308 Bovet] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] The Chinese watches were originally sold in pairs in a mahogany box, both for good luck and so that the user would have a back-up watch if one needed repair, which repair would sometimes take more than six months to complete. [RobbReport.com. [http://www.robbreport.com/archived-issues/Article.aspx?article=14209 21 Ultimate Gifts: Times Two] . December 2007. Accessed July 5, 2008.] The enamel decorations were usually of European scenes or plant life, which made the watches more appealing to the Chinese consumers, since such images were as exotic to them as the European watches. [RobbReport.com. [http://www.robbreport.com/archived-issues/Article.aspx?article=14209 21 Ultimate Gifts: Times Two] . December 2007. Accessed July 5, 2008.]

The original Chinese Bovet watches often fetch more than USD $300,000 for the most decorative models, [The Watch Museum. [http://www.thewatchmuseum.com/pages/tour/bovet_01.html Bovet] . Accessed July 5, 2008. and Antiquorum Online. [http://www.antiquorum.com/eng/press/2006/11_25_06/docs/p_release_results.htm Press Release] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] and more than USD $50,000 for the more simple ones. [Antiquorum. 2006. [http://www.antiquorum.com/html/results/20020413.htm Important Collector’s Watches] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] The simplest metal Chinese watches in moderate condition are usually sold for at least USD $500. [Jones & Horan Auction Team. [http://www.jones-horan.com/0603/html/0603j.htm Lots 298-358] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] Unfortunately, replicas have become increasingly common on the Internet, and while some are the counterfeits produced in China in the 19th century, some more modern counterfeits have also been seen, particularly in markets in Eastern Europe and on eBay. [Zoekwekker.be. [http://www.zoekwekker.be/aanbod/zakhorloge_spillegang zakhorloge spillegang] . Accessed July 7, 2008. and eBay. [http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=360062742357 1885 Swiss Bovet Visible Pendulum Silver Pocket Watch] . Accessed July 7, 2008.]

The chronographs

The Bovet branded watches sold by Bovet Freres in the early 1940's (and possibly as early as the 1930's) [See: Sherry and Roy Ehrhardt. 1993. Vintage American and European Wrist Watch Price Guide. Heart of America Press, Florida.] and by Favre-Leuba from 1948 to 1950 contained a number of ebauches, or blank movements manufactured by other companies. Initially the signature, or logo, on the dial of the Bovet Freres watches simply had the name of the company in a typical typeface, but in the early 1940's their watches had their stylized logo without the "Freres," as seen in the advertisement on the left. [See: Sherry and Roy Ehrhardt. 1993. Vintage American and European Wrist Watch Price Guide. Heart of America Press, Florida.] When Favre-Leuba purchased the company, the stylized logo was replaced with simply "Bovet" in normal type, then the stylized "Bovet" as seen on the dial of the watch on the right. In the transition just before the Favre-Leuba watches no longer used the Bovet brand, watches assembled at the Bovet facility bore the name of both Favre-Leuba and Bovet. [See: Cooksey Shugart. 2000. Complete Guide to Watches. Cooksey Shugart Publications.]

The most commonly used ebauches during this period were those manufactured by Ebauches SA (now ETA, SA), [Electric Watches. November 30, 2007. [http://www.electric-watches.co.uk/make/landeron/index/index.php Landeron] . Accessed July 6, 2008. and ETA, SA. [http://www.eta.ch/ ETA] . Accessed July 6, 2008.] namely the Valjoux and Landeron calibres. [Rakuten Antique Watch Roots. [http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/roots-watch/chorono/choronomove.htm クロノグラフ　ムーブメント] . Accessed July 5, 2008. and Ranfft Watches. [http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&0&2uswk&Landeron_51 Landeron 51] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] The 17 jewel Valjoux 84 lever movement with stem wind was the most common Valjoux movement for the Bovet chronographs, [Rakuten Antique Watch Roots. [http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/roots-watch/chorono/choronomove.htm クロノグラフ　ムーブメント] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] but sometimes the 77 calibre was also used. [Sakura. [http://ca.sakura.ne.jp/~chronos/dada/valjoux/valjoux.htm Valjoux] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] While the Landeron movements were more varied, which included the 47, 48, 51, 57, 59, 80, 81 calibres, and for the rare date and moonphase models, [See [http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e50/chhipa/WEB2/DSC00014.jpgTime Collection] (Accessed July 5, 2008) for an example.] the Landeron 186 was used. [Ranfft Watches. [http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&&2uswk& Landeron] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] Most of the Bovet Freres watches contained Valjoux movements, while most of the Favre-Leuba watches contained Landeron movements. It has been said that the Valjoux were the better produced of the ebauches, indeed the best at the time, and that over time the Landeron became more common and cheap in quality, and it is said that the poor quality of the Landeron had a negative impact on the Bovet name. [Shoubiao Watch Fans Column. [http://www.52watch.com/program/fore/viewArticle.php?pt=YVdROU1UUXdNQ1pzYVc1cmFXUTlNVEk0TWc9PQ= 瑞士计时芯列传（一）] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] These chronographs were produced in large numbers, and are fairly commonly found on the internet for purchase. This was a commercial divergence in the Bovet identity which is unique in the Bovet history, as it is normally known for refined artistic pieces, and not utility.

The restoration of the Bovet style

When the company began to produce watches again in the 1990's it was a very unique style of watch which incorporated various elements of the pocket watch form in its construction, such as at the lugs, and won awards after its introduction in 1997. [The Watch Museum. [http://www.thewatchmuseum.com/pages/tour/bovet_01.html Bovet] . Accessed July 5, 2008.] Most Bovet watches use this trademark style today. Some of the limited edition modern Bovet watches can cost more than USD $1 million, and the purchaser of such a watch is usually flown out to the manufacturing facility in Switzerland by the company to witness the production process and meet the artisans. [RobbReport.com. [http://www.robbreport.com/archived-issues/Article.aspx?article=14209 21 Ultimate Gifts: Times Two] . December 2007. Accessed July 5, 2008.]

References

External links

* [http://www.bovet-fleurier.ch/ Bovet 1822] .
* [http://www.finertimes.com/asp/watches/query.asp?Title=Vint%2E%2E%2END+%28TypeCode%3D1%29&Page=62 FinerTimes.com] A sample of some of the higher-quality Bovet chronograph watches.
* [http://images.antiquorum.com/148/full/203.jpgAntiquorum Lot 203] A photo of a very typical Chinese Bovet pocket watch set from the 19th century.