Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. Bovet Virtuoso V with “Lavish Red” Guilloche Dials
Two new faces for the convertible wonder fitted with jumping hours and retrograde minutes on one side and hours, minutes, seconds and power reserve indicator on the other.
Bovet’s prodigious Virtuoso V gets a sumptuous red guilloché dial. Given its two-faced nature, the red guilloché is featured on both sides of the movement and showcases the talent of Bovet’s in-house artisans. Technically similar to the former iteration of the Virtuoso V, the dial with the jumping hours display abandons the seconds display and the more elaborate, stepped configuration of the previous model to reveal a more classic, more legible, entirely flat and uniform surface.
A convertible case and a versatile calibre
The patented Amadeo® convertible case is one of the most ingenious designs in the watch industry allowing you to transform the reversible wristwatch into a pocket watch and a table clock without the need for any tools. The latest Virtuoso V comes with an Amadeo case in either 18k red or white gold and has a diameter of 43.50mm and a case thickness of 15.70mm.
Following its launch in 2010, the next step was to design a movement with enough technical sophistication to drive different complications. In 2014, Bovet presented the Virtuoso II calibre. Developed and produced by Bovet’s technicians and watchmakers, the calibre powers many of the brand’s watches – excluding the Grandes Complications. One of the particularities of the calibre is its dual display of hours and minutes on both sides of the movement along with a seconds carriage.
The Virtuoso V made its first appearance in 2015 and featured a dual display of hours and minutes and the incredibly sophisticated patented double coaxial seconds display mechanism. This means that, on each side of the watch, the seconds hand will be turning clockwise. However, the new red guilloché Virtuoso V has eliminated the seconds display on the main dial, favouring the presence of the impressive red lacquered guilloché dial.
Jumping hours and retrograde minutes
Jumping hours and retrograde minutes don’t usually keep company. The combination of these two types of displays is particularly rare requiring the perfect synchronisation between the jump of the hour disk and that of the retrograde minute hand. The jumping hour display of the Virtuoso V is located in an aperture in the centre of the dial and the retrograde minutes placed in an arc above. Covering a segment of 160°, the minute hand advances from right to left and performs a semi-instantaneous leap each hour.
The rest of the dial is exquisitely hand-decorated by Bovet’s artisans. The first step was to decorate the metal base of the dial with a guilloché motif, in this case, similar to peacock feathers fanning out from the centre. Once the engraving was completed, a dozen layers of translucent red lacquer were applied, allowed to dry, and then polished to create a perfectly flat surface that creates depth and reflections.
Hours, minutes, seconds, power reserve
The reverse side, or second dial, has an off-centred hours and minutes display at 12 o’clock, also decorated with lavish red guilloché and applied gold Roman numerals. The rest of the dial is openworked to reveal the movement. The seconds cage is placed at 6 o’clock and each arm of its triple hand successively covers 120° of the 20-second scale. The power reserve indicator is located at 10 o’clock. Another useful function that is not immediately visible is the possibility of setting, via a corrector, one of the hour displays with a different time effectively creating a second time-zone/GMT function.
Manual-winding movement
The new Virtuoso V is equipped with the hand-wound Virtuoso II movement – calibre 13BM11AIHSMR – which measures 31mm in diameter and operates at 21,600 vibrations per hour. One large barrel drives all the complications and can store up to five days of power reserve. As you would expect from Bovet, the Amadeo Fleurier Virtuoso V and its movement are finished to the brand’s exacting standards.
Accessories
As mentioned, the Virtuoso V with red guilloché comes in either white or red gold cases with a blue or red guilloché dial. Given its convertible nature, the watch comes with an alligator strap and matching gold pin buckle and a red or white gold chain. Price, as is customary at Bovet, is ‘on request’. For more details, please visit www.bovet.com.
