The Bovet Récital 30, One of The Most Clever and Travel-Friendly Watches Ever

Pascal Raffy’s acquisition of the historical Swiss watch brand Bovet in 2001 was accompanied by an ambitious dream of reviving the brand as a temple of decorative arts and Haute Horlogerie. Towering above conventional watchmakers with its complex in-house movements, dramatically staged complications, and lavish artistic flourishes, Bovet’s watches are as unique as they are expressive. An eloquent example is the Récital 28 Prowess 1 released last year, a remarkable and revolutionary world timer capable of synchronising the vagaries of the Daylight Saving Time dilemma with its ingenious roller system, accompanied by a flying tourbillon and perpetual calendar. Scaling down the complexity and bulk of the Récital 28, Bovet released the Récital 30, another impressive model that puts the world time function centre stage and jettisons the tourbillon and QP complications. Smaller, focused exclusively on world time, even more legible and practical, Raffy describes the Récital 30 as an “everyday” version of its more complex sibling. However, as we will discover, “everyday” in Bovet’s universe is nothing short of extraordinary.

Following the launch of the Récital 28, Raffy gathered his three children to get their feedback on the watch (Audrey, his eldest daughter, joined the brand in 2020). The verdict was that while the Récital 28 was an incontestable masterpiece, its gargantuan proportions and delicate complications were not practical for real-life travel. They proposed a mid-level complication in a more robust, compact pebble-style case to showcase Bovet’s groundbreaking world time system. Frequent travellers will also be pleased to know that the airline ticket of the Récital 30 has also been scaled down (CHF 68,000 in titanium and CHF 96,800 in red gold) compared to the eye-watering CHF 650,000 commanded by the Récital 28. One tenth of the price, but surely not one tenth of the content…

Daylight Saving Time (DST) was invented to make better use of daylight by extending evening hours. In countries that observe DST, clocks are typically set forward one hour in late spring or early summer and then set back one hour in the autumn. Ever since the introduction of DST, most world time watches have not been able to keep up with the erratic starting and ending cycles in the 70 countries that adhere to DST. While models like the Glashütte Original Senator Cosmopolite calculate DST, most world timers were off by an hour during DST periods, until the Récital 28 UTC…

The ingenious roller system, inherited from the Récital 28, can be adjusted to reflect UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), AST (American Summer Time – this year, from 09 March to 02 November 2025), EAS (European and American Summer Time – this year, from 30 March to 26 October 2025) and EWT (European Winter Time – this year from 02 November 2025 to 08 March 2026), ensuring accurate readings for all time zones, whether or not they are subscribed to DST. The main issue is that changes between summer and winter time do not occur at the exact same time around the globe – if they occur – making the use of a world timer watch sometimes rather irrelevant – or at least, inaccurate.

The dial of the Bovet Récital 30 is dominated by a dynamic 3D time display composed of 26 rollers: 24 black rollers with 24 cities that rotate simultaneously with the central 24-hour disc, and two smaller rollers, one to adjust the DST and one for the 24-hour world time disc. In fact, the watch displays 25 time zones. India has been selected as the country of the year, and New Delhi, with its 30-minute offset, is inscribed on the peripheral minutes ring, wedged between the Maldives and Dhaka and indicated by a colourful triangle. Like most world timers, the central handset is linked to local time while the inner 24-hour ring corresponds to the 24 city rollers.

While the concept of being able to synchronise all 24 time zones to each of the four periods is mind-boggling, operating this watch is a breeze. For starters, the central handset is linked to local time and adjusted at the crown. To switch between the four yearly DST periods, the top pusher advances through UTC, AST, EAS and EWT. Once the correct period is selected, the rollers spin 90 degrees (or not, depending on the need to be adjusted, considering the period of the year). In the centre of the dial is a 24-hour ring linked to the 24 cities on the rollers and surrounded by a blue hand-guilloché area with a day/night indicator linked to local time. To adjust this disc, the bottom pusher advances the 24-hour scale by one hour per push.

You will notice, though, that there is an additional minutes hand (more on this shortly) in different colours, depending on the version. Viewed from the side, you can see how both hands for the minutes curve at their tips to follow the contours of the domed dial. The off-white peripheral minutes ring and the central 24-hour world time disc provide a vivid and elegant contrast to the black rollers.

Raffy’s son’s advice for a flying saucer-style receptacle was respected, and the pronounced domed dial and sapphire crystal give the watch its UFO profile. Far more compact than the Récital 28’s 46.3mm diameter and 17.85mm thickness, the diameter of the Récital 30 is 42mm with a thickness of 12.9mm. Available in titanium and 18k red gold, the cases are decorated with alternating polished and brushed surfaces, and the crown has a blue sapphire cabochon. The lugs are beautifully crafted with an eye-catching cut-away area.

As a brand that prides itself on its high degree of vertical integration, Bovet has started making its own cases in its facility in Tramelan. All the titanium cases will be produced in-house, and the red gold cases will be produced in-house from 2026.

Let’s return to the additional minutes hand. Available in two different versions, the Coordinated Universal Time models, in red gold and titanium, feature New Delhi printed in black with a yellow or red arrow indicator and a second colour-matched minutes hand linked to New Delhi’s 30-minute time offset. The second version, designed for collectors in India, links the central yellow or red hour and minute hands to New Delhi time and world time hours are offset by 30 minutes. The additional minutes hand – silver on titanium and gold on red gold – indicates the minutes for the rest of the world.

The reverse side features a sapphire crystal caseback, a feature that Edouard Bovet introduced to watchmaking in the 19^th century to showcase his refined and beautifully decorated movements. Six years in the making, the 373-component movement is produced in-house at the Dimier 1738 manufacture. Unusual for a brand that invented the exhibition caseback, the automatic calibre R30-70-001 is hidden from view by the full rotor decorated with black Fleurisanne motifs. Beating at 4Hz, the power reserve is rated at a comfortable 62 hours.

Like almost all Bovet’s watches, the Récital 30 can be customised. Unlike the hyper-exclusive Récital 28, limited to 60 movements (only six can be handcrafted each year), the Récital 30 is not limited, but only 30 will be made this year. The price of the Récital 30 in titanium is CHF 68,000, in red gold, CHF 96,800. The price of exclusivity for what’s arguably one of the most practical, most accurate and most clever takes on the world time watch we’ve seen so far. Congrats Bovet and Mister Raffy. More information at bovet.com.