Bovet Fleurier age determination

19th century – classic pocket watches:

Bovet was famous in the 19th century for high-quality pocket watches, especially for the Chinese market; many of these historical watches date from the 1820s to the late 1800s.

20th century – transition period:

The brand changed hands several times and at times produced fewer watches or under a different name; clear serial number-→-year correspondences are not comprehensively documented.

Modern production (from the 1990s/2000s onwards):

Today's Bovet Fleurier SA, owned by Pascal Raffy since 2001, produces high-quality wristwatches and manufactures modern watches in small series, often with limited editions, but without a publicly accessible serial age list.

• In 1889, Bovet filed a patent for a reverse chronograph equipped with a second hand, a minute counter and an hour counter, enabling measurements of up to 24 hours.
• Between 1932 and 1939, Bovet filed several patents for chronographs, such as the Mono Rattrapante : a device that stopped the second hand for a reading while the mechanism continued to run.
• In 1939, Bovet filed further patents: for the Easel Watch, which made it possible to use a pocket watch as a table clock, and for the Mono-Split-Second-Chronograph, which is still highly sought after by collectors today.
• In 2010, Bovet introduced the patented Amadéo Convertible case, which allows the watch to be transformed into a wristwatch, a table clock and a pocket watch (or a necklace watch) without tools.
• In 2014, Bovet launched the Virtuoso II caliber, entirely developed and handcrafted in-house, the first movement not regulated by a tourbillon.
• In 2015, Bovet introduced two historic timepieces: the Braveheart with six patents and a large power reserve of 22 days, and the 19Thirty, a tribute to the Bovet family's pocket watches from the 1930s.

Bovet brand watches, which were manufactured by Bovet Frères in the early 1940s (and possibly as early as the 1930s) and sold by Favre-Leuba from 1948 to 1950, contained a number of ébauches , i.e., movements bare, manufactured by other companies. Originally, the signature or logo on the dial of Bovet Frères watches simply featured the company name in regular type, but by the early 1940s, the watches bore their stylized logo without the "Frères".

When Favre-Leuba acquired the company, the stylized logo was replaced by the simple word "Bovet" in regular type and then by a stylized "Bovet". During the transition period, shortly before Favre-Leuba watches ceased to bear the Bovet brand, watches assembled at the Bovet factory carried both the Favre-Leuba and Bovet names.

The most commonly used Ébauches during this period were the calibers manufactured by Ébauches SA (now ETA SA). namely the Valjoux and Landeron calibers. The 17-jewel Valjoux 84 lever movement with verge winding was the most common Valjoux movement for Bovet chronographs, However, the Caliber 77 was sometimes used as well. Landeron movements were more diverse, encompassing Calibers 47, 48, 51, 57, 59, 80, 81, and, for the rare date and moon phase models, calibers 41, 52, 53, 54, 55, 86, 87, 88, and 89, 88, 89, 81, 90, 1 ... The Landeron 186 was used.

Most Bovet Frères watches contained high-quality Valjoux movements, while most Favre-Leuba watches contained lower-quality Landeron movements. These chronographs were produced in large quantities and are quite common online. This was a commercial departure from Bovet's established identity, unique in the company's history, as it is typically known for refined works of art rather than utilitarian objects.

When the company resumed watchmaking in the 1990s, it developed a unique style that incorporated various elements of the pocket watch shape into its design, such as the lugs, and which received awards after its introduction in 1997.

Most Bovet watches today use this brand style. The watches are characterized by high-quality enameling (as seen in the Fleurier miniature painting models), engravings, and a 7-day automatic tourbillon. Bovet watches are also unique because the company traditionally employs female artisans, which is rare among traditional watch manufacturers in Europe.

Some of Bovet's modern limited-edition watches can cost more than $1 million, and the buyer of such a watch is usually flown by the company to the production facility in Switzerland to observe the production process and meet the artisans.

Source: Wikipedia, AI