Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The New Bovet Orbis Mundi (Live Pics & Price)
The time around the world at a glance.
Watchmaker Edouard Bovet was a forerunner of the business globetrotter plying his wares beyond the confines of Fleurier, Switzerland. In 1818 he sailed to China and sold four pocket watches for the equivalent of USD 1 million today. Paying tribute to the founder’s international vision, timepieces with double and even triple time zones are regularly featured in the brand’s catalogue, including the Récital 26 Brainstorm Chapter Two, which took home the Mechanical Exception award at the 2020 edition of the GPHG. To celebrate Bovet’s 200th anniversary this year, the brand presents the Bovet Orbis Mundi, a timepiece that displays all 24 time zones at a glance and can be adjusted directly at the crown.
Crossing several time zones on a business trip or working from home with partners from different parts of the world usually means adjusting your world time watch back and forth. Following two years of development, Bovet’s Orbis Mundi represents a major advancement in the setting and display of the world time function. Placed on the same domed disc occupying the top half of the dial, the owner can set the local time by turning the crown counter-clockwise and the unique 24 world time zone dial by turning it clockwise. Once the city has been selected, the world timer completes its adjustments (a patented mechanism) and displays the time simultaneously in all the other 23 cities on a 24-hour scale. Deceptively simple, consulting local time and the time in any of the 24 time zones around the world couldn’t be more intuitive.
The domed world time dial of the Bovet Orbis Mundi is made of aventurine glass, with its sparkling inclusions evoking a starry sky. White Roman numerals indicate the hours, while the 24 cities and the 24-hour scale are picked out in yellow. The white background area of the dial features an elegantly engraved lotus motif with two cut-out areas. The larger aperture below the domed world time dial reveals Bovet’s in-house balance wheel and regulating organ. The seconds are indicated by a three-armed rotating seconds hand alighting on a 20-second arched glass aventurine track. A recessed power reserve indicator just to the right of the world time dial gauges the seven-day power reserve.
The Orbis Mundi is housed in the brand’s signature Fleurier case with genuine sapphire cabochons in the crown and strap bolts and the Bovet bow at noon. Available in lightweight grade 5 titanium or a solid red gold case with polished finishings throughout, the diameter of the case is 42mm, and its height is 11.25mm. A sapphire crystal caseback reveals refined Haute Horlogerie finishings adorning the manual-winding manufacture movement – calibre 15BM01HU. The frequency is 21,600vph, and the robust 7-day power reserve is provided by a single barrel.
Both Bovet Orbis Mundi models come with a blue alligator strap with a buckle in the same metal. The Bovet Orbis Mundi is limited to 60 timepieces; the model in 18k red gold (ref. NTHU011) retails for CHF 46,000, and the titanium (ref. NTHU002) for CHF 40,700.
More information at Bovet.com.
