The Award-Winning Recital 26 Chapter Two has been redesigned to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, the Year of the Dragon.
“Paint the Dragon, Dot the Eyes.” This Chinese idiom refers to striving to achieve perfection. While Bovet’s designs and creations align with this idiom, the all-new Récital 26 Chapter Two Golden Dragon showcases how much of a masterpiece in high-horology it is. Bovet’s artisans, designers and engineers have worked hard to make this timepiece a reality. With Bovet’s history with China, they have made sure this timepiece dedicated to the Chinese Lunar New Year exceeds their own expectations in haute horology.
The Bovet Recital 26 Chapter Two comes with so many design features, many of which are award-winning designs that dedicating a limited edition model to celebrate the Year of the Dragon makes this all the more special. Introduced in 2020, the Bovet Récital 26 Brainstorm®️ Chapter Two was honoured for its Engineering Brilliance and received the 2020 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève award for Mechanical Exception. Calling this timepiece a horological masterpiece for me is an understatement.
The design characteristics of the Bovet Récital 26 Brainstorm®️ Chapter Two have transferred across into this new Récital 26 – Chapter Two Golden Dragon. The watch still features the Brainstorm®️’s patented double-sided flying tourbillon, an indexable second-time zone indicator with a twenty-four-city disc, and the moon phase. It also comes with Bovet’s iconic and patented Writing Desk Case in 18k red gold.
“For me, the Dragon is the most amazing symbol, representing wisdom, power, kindness, hope, and a bright future. The Writing Desk case of BOVET Recital 26 Chapter Two is the perfect exhibition space for the hand-engraved Golden Dragon sculpture, as well as our high watchmaking expertise. With this timepiece, we celebrate 2024 as the Year of the Dragon.”
Mr. Pascal Raffy, the owner of BOVET 1822.
The Writing Desk Case is a signature design of Bovet’s. As the name suggests, the case has been designed in a way to resemble a writing slope, with the case’s proportions getting slimmer. Starting from 12 o’clock, the case becomes a thinner profile as it works down to 6 o’clock. This allows for easy viewing of the stunning dial and its features without the need to turn your wrist.
Ultra-fine craftsmanship 
Artisans working on the details of the case back design.
The complications on the dial are split up into three complications. Firstly, at the 12 o’clock position is the blue quartz domed dial, which displays the local time. The second dome is at 3 o’clock, which displays the second time zone. This second timezone has been specifically developed for this watch, and has been patented by the house of Bovet. Within this dome, the names of the cities representing the 24 time zones are printed onto the dome itself.
The dome makes a complete revolution every 24 hours. The second timezone is shown on the dome through a three-dimensional V-shaped hand, which the wearer can use to adjust which city they want to be selected. Alongside the 24-hour time zone, this new indication also allows for world time function, which means each of the 24 time zones can be read simultaneously. This second timezone dome is operated by another Bovet patented mechanism called the Radial Guidance System. The system works by incorporating three rollers, in rubies, which are adjustable by a micrometric screw, and is arranged on the circumference. They ensure centering and the rotation minimizes friction and increases the chronometry and the power reserve of the timepiece.
Constructing the dial of the Bovet Récital 26 Chapter Two Golden Dragon 
Up close details of the 18k gold dragon.
The third and last dome showcases the moon phase mechanism. The dome’s surface is made from Mother-of-Pearl, which gives the illusion of the moon’s surface. The two discs on the dome represent the Northern and Southern hemispheres and how the moon is shown in each location. This dome, like the second timezone, is also operated through Bovet’s Radial Guidance System.
The above mechanics is what the standard Bovet Récital 26 Brainstorm®️ Chapter Two comes with. For this unique Récital 26 – Chapter Two Golden Dragon timepiece, Bovet has overlayed a solid 18k gold dragon covering the left lower portion of the dial. The golden dragon is overlayed across the moon phase indicator and the flying tourbillon mechanisms. Each dragon takes approximately 40-50 hours to engrave and is done by hand. The impeccable detail of the dragon’s scales and overall figure is a testament to the sculptor’s and engravers’ hard work. Does anyone else get goosebumps looking at this timepiece?
First, the space the dragon could occupy was delineated by BOVET’s Technical Office, then a sculptor was commissioned to create the head and body of the solid gold dragon. Once the sculpture is cast, it then goes to the BOVET in-house hand-engravers to add the details — eyes, scales, claws, whiskers, and more — which takes between 40 and 50 hours. Then, the fiery-red ruby is set into the eye, and the complete sculpture is assembled within and around the movement.
Bovet on creating the dragon for the Récital 26 – Chapter Two Golden Dragon
The movement calibre that operates the base Récital 26 Brainstorm®️ Chapter Two has been entirely manufactured in the Bovet 1822 workshops. Designed to be an ideal companion for travel, the movement has been tweaked to guarantee five days of power reserve from only a single barrel! As this is a manual wound timepiece, the movement frequency sits at 3 Hz (21, 600 VpH). While this is impressive, what really makes my jaw drop to the floor is when you turn the watch over.
If you thought the dial was an impressive creation of horological art, the open case back is, well, something else. The intricate architecture of the skeleton bridges and plates have the hammered “broken glass” pattern, which gives the case back its artistic flair. Add to this the different colours used throughout the movement structure, along with the double-sided flying tourbillon; it’s one of the best case back designs I’ve seen for a high-horological timepiece.
The house of Bovet has created something really special with this latest Récital 26 – Chapter Two Golden Dragon. Using the Récital 26 Brainstorm®️ Chapter Two as the base for this creation meant that the watch dedicated to the celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year comes with an award-winning design and some of Bovet’s latest innovative and patented mechanisms. With the amount of craftsmanship and detail that go into creating this timepiece, the Recital 26 Chapter Two Dragon is limited to just 12 timepieces worldwide, dedicated to the 12 months of the Dragon Year.
Reference: The Récital 26 Chapter 2 Golden Dragon
Specification
- Case: 46.5mm
- Case Material: 18K red gold Dimier “Writing Desk” case with sapphire caseback
- Dial: Convex in blue quartz, 18K red gold dragon sculpture
- Crystal: Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating
- Water resistance: 30m (3 Bar)
- Movement: High-watchmaking hand-wound manufacture movement (Caliber 17DM06-DT)
- Movement Frequency: 3Hz (21,600 VpH)
- Power reserve: 5 Days (120 hours)
- Bracelet: Double face full skin alligator with platinum thread stitching and 18K red gold folding buckle.
- Patents: Double-face flying tourbillon; Radial guidance mechanism system; Universal time display.
Australian Recommended Retail Price: Price On Request.
Availability: Limited to 12 timepieces. Enquire through Bovet’s online website.
