A Bovet 1822 Watchmaker
Culture

Fist Bumps And High Watchmaking - My Visit to Bovet 1822

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The smell of emerald green grass lingers in my nose as I sit on my British Airways flight at Zurich Airport awaiting departure back to London. The fresh air has followed me all the way here and I’m not mad about it. It smells clean. It smells like Switzerland.

It first hit me when Fanette, Bovet’s communication manager asked me if I wanted to stop by the side of the road for a photo. I said yes obviously, I could see the Bovet Castle nestled in the trees up ahead and the view was as Swiss as Roger Federer, fondue or a white cross on a red flag. The crisp air brought me back into my body after a surreal morning of exploring watchmaking workshops, eating melted cheese and sipping Absinthe. I have a lot to talk about, but before we get to that, let’s start at the beginning.

Bovet Château de Môtiers

A Shot In The Dark To A Manufacture Visit

Most of the good things in my life have come from asking. It sounds simple but for most people it really isn’t. Years ago I messaged Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson on Instagram and asked him to be a guest on my men’s mental health podcast. Somewhat unsurprisingly he didn’t reply… I'm still up for it Mr Rock. As cliché as it sounds, you never know until you try.
Fanette emailed me out of the blue after she had read my article about the new Bovet boutique in Melbourne. It was exciting to see that brands were finding my stuff, knowing anyone reads it is awesome, it meant that I was doing something right. We shared a few emails back and forth and I eventually told her that I would love to visit the Bovet Château one day.
Six months later I was there, driving up the narrow road from Motiers and smelling that sweet, perfectly green grass I mentioned earlier.
You never know where you’ll end up, all you have to do is ask.

The Road To Tramelan

The trip started at Bovet’s movement manufacture in Tramelan, within the French-speaking region of Switzerland. A driver picked me up from Bern, drove me for an hour in a big black SUV and dropped me in front of an unassuming, almost industrial-looking building. ‘What do I do now’ I thought to myself, ‘I’m in way over my head here’. I’ll probably always feel like this, but that won’t stop me from diving into things head-first.

Keith, the head of content for Bovet

To make matters worse, a gorgeous couple showed up in an even bigger black SUV. Thankfully, and before I had the time to develop SUV envy, I was greeted by Fanette and Keith (Bovet’s head of content) who took us all inside together. “Don’t embarrass yourself Mitch” I thought as I stepped through the door.

The Bovet Technical Design Department

Over a cup of tea and chocolate, Keith gave us an introduction to the brand and spoke to us about the brands history, its current owner Pascal Raffy and the philosophy behind what they do. Keith was gentle in his communication but had a cheekiness about him that I wasn’t expecting, these were down to earth people.
The first stop on our tour was the technical design room where people far smarter than me were working on 3D movement models, case design and technical development. The CAD drawings were incredibly complex but what struck me most was how calm everyone seemed. The place was silent. From the moment I walked in it felt like I was in a zen garden. Just the clacking of keyboards broke the stillness in the air.

Keith proceeded to tell us about the attitude everyone has towards complex or difficult watchmaking problems. He mentioned that Mr Raffy often comes to the team with ideas and although there may be pushback, he empowers the team to work together and find a solution.
Take the Récital 28 Prowess 1 for example. Imagine your boss walks in one day and says, “Alright team, no one has done this before but I want a world timer that can be adjusted for all of the time variations on the planet, UTC, AST, EAS and EWT. Let’s aim to have this done in five years” Peeks his head back through the door - “oh and it needs to be a perpetual calendar too”.
Yikes. You can tell the words ‘not possible’ aren’t often spoken in this room.

Bovet watchmakers

As we turned to leave, Keith told us that although the different departments of the manufacture are separate, they encourage total collaboration between the teams. If someone from technical design needs advice on a certain component they’re working on, they walk downstairs and consult the machinists who will tell them if it’s feasible or not. None of Bovet’s technical advancements would have been possible without this freedom of collaboration. It’s like a bee hive, everyone works together to make sweet horological honey.

Bovet’s Component Manufacturing

As we walked downstairs to the workshop, Keith explained that Pascal purchased this facility, along with, Dimier 1738, a Haute Horlogerie manufacture in 2006. This brought the development and production of their movements under one roof. It’s a relatively humble looking building from the outside but dives down a slope to open up impressively from within.

Small parts that Bovet manufactures
A piece of the Amadeo system from Bovet

Entering the workshop downstairs we walked past rows of raw materials racked up neatly next to tools used to cut it down to a workable size. Cnc machines were buzzing as the workshop team adjusted measurements and tested tolerances. It was like Willy Wonka’s factory except instead of chocolate rivers and candy cane trees there was a hive of metal work and fabrication. Don’t worry, no Oompa Loompas in sight.

Bovet's stamp maker, Theirry

We then reached the stamping section and stopped to chat with Bovet’s long-standing faiseur d'étampes (stamp maker) Thierry, and what a character he was! With a smile from ear to ear, he showed us how he creates single and multi-step stamps for creating tiny movement components. The precision and scale at which he works are incredible. Through Fannette’s translation, he explained the multi-step stamping process that cuts, bends and shapes metal to make a three-dimensional part no bigger than the end of a pencil. Incredible.

Bovet stamp making
Bovet stamp making

Thierry has been honing his craft for 35 years, first under Dimmier 1738 and and now Bovet 1822. You can see this experience in his hands, in each callous is decades of work and in each crease, his wisdom has built up. Theirry is truly one of the great characters of the industry.

Engraving Is So Much Harder Than It Looks

The next stop on our tour was the engraving workshop where I was lucky enough to don the white coat and give it a go. I came in confident, I’ve always had steady hands, but as soon as I touched tool to dial that confidence melted away. When watching the two engravers do their thing it looks more like they are cutting into melted butter than gold or brass. It’s such an elegant process to see, their tools gliding over a surface to carve away just a little bit of material each time. They were working on a case when I was there, with just a reference image next to them, their tools and their hands. This is what art looks like.
I won’t include an image of my attempt here, it’s quite embarrassing.

Of of the engravers at Bovet
Bovet's engraving workshop

What was super interesting was that all of these artists, and a lot of the people at Bovet in general were very young. What I imagined before my visit was a dark room full of older gentleman hunched over wooden benches with pipe smoke lingering in the air. Bovet being an especially traditional brand from an aesthetic sense it was a surprise to see a thoroughly modern workforce. The brand will be in good hands for years to come.

Sticky Door Mats And Movement Assembly

The final stop on this part of the tour was the movement assembly and quality control room. Being a hermetically sealed and dust free environment we put on our shoe covers and stepped over what was essentially a big piece of double sided sticky tape. This is to pull any particles off your paper shoes before you enter. Within this room, watchmakers undertake quality control of the components produced downstairs and perform an initial assembly of the movement.

an engraved dial

Once again the room was silent. Everyone was calm and focused. I walked around freely and whenever I approached a watchmaker they showed me what they were doing, no speaking necessary. I saw an engraved dial being inspected under a microscope and a couple of chaps quietly talking through what was either a technical problem or what they were having for dinner that night, I can’t be sure.
A highlight was seeing the a Récital 28 movement being tested. The watchmaker kindly showed me the details of the movement in it’s temporary case and spoke to me about what she was looking for. Thanks again Fanette for translating… I really need to learn french.

Bovet Récital 28

What struck me about the first half of my visit, apart from the incredible watchmaking, was the culture of the team. Everyone was happy to have us there and the interactions I saw amongst them were all gentle and respectful.
Despite Keith being quite high up in the company, he would fist bump anyone he encountered. They all knew it was coming too, lifting their fists to receive Keiths gesture of warmth and friendship. I think this is the perfect way to describe my impression of Bovet. It’s an old brand, but their values, philosophy and culture are thoroughly modern.
Like fist-bumping Queen, it’s a modern gesture in a very traditional context.

Miss you, Liz.

The Bovet Manufacture

A goofy photo out the front marked the end of my visit to the manufacture in Tramelan, but there’s so much more to come. Fanette and I hopped into her car and drove off, heading towards Château de Môtiers. But before we get to smell the grass, we have Fondue, Absinthe and a run-in with a Helicopter to talk about.

Stay tuned.

Cya in the next one x

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