New version of the Récital 21.
Many watchmakers have decided to expose their movements this year. Watches that stand out among the diverse array of skeletons are models that reveal the movement's components through smoky colored sapphire.
These timepieces maintain the core idea of transparency, but they look more striking and tap into the trend for colored dials — especially green ones. A few brands have been building on this trend towards the end of the year.
Czapek launched the Promenade Transparencies "Viridian Green" for the Dutch online watch magazine Fratello, and now Bovet has introduced a new version of the Récital 21.
Bovet's Récital 21 Retrograde Perpetual Calendar was first unveiled to the general public at SIHH in 2019 with a choice of rose gold or titanium for the case.
The central dial for the hours and minutes was encircled by a retrograde scale for the date, and had windows around the edge of the dial to display the day of the week at 12 o'clock, the leap year cycle at 3 o'clock, the month at 6 o'clock, plus small seconds at 9 o'clock.
These indications shared the dial with an inscription written in old French around the periphery: "Faictes de mains de maistres – pour servir ponctuels gentilshommes – ce par quoy attestons longue valeur" (Made by the hands of masters - to serve punctual gentlemen - whereby we certify lasting value).
Bovet revisited Récital 21 this year and decided to expose everything concealed beneath the dial's disk indications. The resulting perpetual calendar reveals its inner workings through smoky sapphire crystal, available in blue, green, or a brown tone just called "smoked".
The layout of counters remains the same, only the inscription dedicated to the future owner had to be removed. All of the markings are coated with Super-LumiNova, which makes this model particularly impressive in the dark.
The novelty has a sloping titanium "writing desk" case, where its height ranges from 15.4 mm to 10.25 mm. It measures 44.4 mm in diameter, but short lugs make the watch more compact on the wrist. The movement has a five-day power reserve and comprises 464 components.